Public Participation in Building Sustainable Peace in Southern Thailand

Abstract

     While it seems difficult to see the unrest in the southernmost part of Thailand coming to an end, listening to local people’s voices is necessary. To achieve sustainable peace requires public participation and other actors are as important as the government. The purposes of this article are to promote people’s opinion in the Deep South to the peace dialogues and peacebuilding process; and to raise awareness of the importance of people’s participation in peacebuilding. The data are from the results of the first to third Peace Surveys, conducted from 2016-2017 by a network of 15 institutions. The area of the study comprised the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and four districts of Songkhla. The sample groups were chosen through stratified random sampling and systematic sampling. The total sample groups was 4,712 people. Findings indicate that local people expect the following groups to be involved in peace dialogues and peacebuilding processes: government and conflicting parties, Islamic leaders, Ustaz, civil society, educational institutions, and politicians from national and local levels.