Listen to every side's story in the southern border provinces and the problem appears in five dimensions, not one

Conflict and violence in Thailand's southern border provinces are usually explained from one side's point of view. What does the problem look like under a self-transcendental narrative paradigm — where each group tells its own story and is then asked to step across and see the same events from another group's position?

Qualitative field research in Pattani province, conducted with local coordinators familiar with the area. Focus groups gathered 34 participants (8 Muslim residents and traders, 8 Buddhist residents and traders, 6 teachers, 12 recent school leavers), and individual in-depth interviews reached a further 17 people whose views were sensitive to express in a group setting (3 Islamic religious leaders, 3 Buddhist monks, 3 local administrative officers, 3 security officers, and 5 people of other ethnicities and religions plus outsiders). Projective techniques such as drawing and metaphor accompanied the sessions. Thirty-three narrated events were then analysed. The work was funded by the National Research Council of Thailand.

• The problem appears in five dimensions rather than one: (1) the state maintaining its governing authority; (2) power relations between civilians and the military, and between the public and the administration; (3) social problems — education, narcotics, belief, ways of life and making a living; (4) the interests of individuals, groups and organisations that benefit from violence continuing in the area; and (5) perception formed by the media.
• That fifth dimension is the gap between the picture in the news and daily life: residents see themselves as living normally, not in the danger the media portrays, while the media picture generates enough fear that outsiders will not travel there.
• Residents themselves asked that the media show ordinary life in the area, along with its places, culture and natural beauty, because that would help tourism and the local economy — part of the problem that coverage of violence obscures.
• Reporting only “visible violence” without offering any way out contributes to stereotypes of Islam, of Muslims, and of the area itself, leading to fear, suspicion and discrimination.

The authors propose changing the question from “solving the conflict and violence” to “building our own peace in this place” — starting by communicating everyone's perspective so that those working on the problem, inside and outside the area, genuinely understand it, and then designing a process that goes beyond negotiation and agreements. For media practitioners the most direct recommendation is to report ordinary life in the area as an addition to existing peace-building work.