There’s that word again, “restive.” Do a search and you’ll find dozens of mainstream media articles about Thailand that describe the Muslim southern region as “restive.” It’s their Homeric epithet of choice. But what causes a place to be “restive”? Just something in the air or water? Do a search for the use of the word “jihad” in connection with Thailand, and you will find many fewer articles.
“Buddhist teacher shot and killed in Thailand’s troubled Muslim south,” from The Associated Press (thanks to Twostellas):
BANGKOK, Thailand: Suspected separatist insurgents shot and killed a Buddhist teacher on Tuesday in Thailand’s restive Muslim far south, police said.
Somchoke Chitkongsat, 59, a teacher at a government-run secondary school was shot while waiting for a bus to school in Yala provincial township, said police Lt. Veerakij Kaewnuanjing.
Somchoke teaches in nearby Pattani province but lived in Yala, which is 780 kilometers (480 miles) south of Bangkok, and traveled by bus to work everyday.
“Police believe that the insurgents knew that he waited for the bus at that point every morning, and shot him today,” Veerakij said.
Witnesses told police that the gunman arrived on the back of motorcycle and shot Somchoke at close range, then sped away, Veerakij said.