Starting Point
Civil Society Council of the Southernmost Thailand (CSOST) was established in 2011 as a platform for leaders and members of 23 civil society organisations working in the southernmost provinces, namely Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, to interact, cooperate, and promote peace and security and development in the area. Since the year of its establishment, it has played a key role in 1) collaborating among themselves for the improvement of the life of the locals; 2) addressing issues of concerns from the people of both Thai-Buddhist and Malay-Muslim communities towards state policies and policy implementations; 3) recommending solutions and conflict transformation approaches for the restive south to the peace dialogue parties (delegates from the Thai government and the insurgent groups) and supporting the peace process.
At present, CSOST comprises more than 40 organisations of different sizes and missions, as well as varying levels of closeness to Thai state and military agencies, particularly the Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC 4). After a long struggle to bridge the gaps, build unity among the member organisation, and make their voice as a council heard, CSOST has increasingly gained recognition as the third party, sometimes known as Party C, of Thailand’s peace process for the Unrest. CSOST urges the new government led by Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra to pay more attention to the conflict and violence in the region and seriously seek long-lasting and sustainable solutions. Some of the areas CSOST wishes to see some improvements are 1) more acknowledgement by the two conflicting parties of the local people’s need and participation in the peace process and 2) a more concrete plan from the negotiation table regarding the reduction of violence targeting civilians and vulnerable groups and the increase in opportunities for political solutions.
Ms Lamai Manakarn is a female Buddhist peacebuilder, activist, and human rights defender currently the chairperson of CSOST. Ms Lamai, or Phi Lamai (Sister Lamai), affectionately called by the local people of the south, is a Thai Buddhist woman in her mid-50s. In the 2000s, she was an activist working primarily in environment and community protection for the southernmost provinces. Her interest in justice and equality has driven her to engage in and advocate for various issues faced by the locals in the southernmost region. Being born and raised in Songkhla and Pattani and witnessing various forms of violence, loss of life, and the grief of the families of the victims, she decided that she had to do something to stop this wicked, violent circle.
In 2013, Ms Lamai started to engage with a local Buddhist NGO, Buddhist Network for Peace (B4P). Working under B4P has made her one of the leading female Buddhist activists in the area. Her key attributes are her open-mindedness and ability to work with people from different ethno-religious backgrounds. The Muslim community respects her well, and she is also regarded as a crucial peacebuilder in the eyes of the state authorities and international organisations.
At present, Ms Lamai serves as the first female chairperson of CSOST. She started her new role in June 2024. Under her leadership, CSOST will still work on decentralisation, conflict transformation, and conflict management at the community level, as well as civil society’s participation in the formal peace process. More importantly, she would like to see CSOCT work more on the issues promoting the local community’s resilience. Her leadership style is to enhance power-sharing between women and men with consultation strategies. She believes that by having her as the chairperson, CSOST will be viewed as a less male-dominant entity and more as a platform of co-working between people of diverse backgrounds who wish to see peace flourish in the southernmost region.
Peace Journey
In 2015, Ms Lamai, together with other female representatives of 16 civil society organisations in the southernmost region, formed a female working group known as Peace Agenda of Women (PAOW) to advocate for more women’s participation in the peace process and to propose a gender-sensitive approach for conflict transformation in the region. PAOW later comprised 23 organisations in which women played key roles in leadership positions. In April 2015, Ms Lamai and other key PAOW leaders proposed to the Thai state and the representatives of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) or National Revolution Front the idea of a safety zone for the three southernmost provinces. In the eyes of women, a safety zone is not a safe house where a member of an insurgent group would stay under the care of the state. The safety zone is a public space—a market, school, or playground—where women, children, and families frequently enjoy quality time together. The conflicting parties picked up the idea of a safety zone, and later, there were five safety zone plans to be jointly implemented by both parties as one of the trust-building activities between the two. However, the plan was scrubbed within a year after that.
Although the PAOW proposal was not successfully carried out, it is marked as the first concrete step the women of the South took to play more role in the security realm. When the violent episode of the Southern Unrest erupted from 2004 until 2014, women’s roles in the conflict were more towards the area of social-trauma healing and humanitarian assistance for victims of violence. It was not common for women of the South to come together and propose ways to create peace and reduce violence against vulnerable groups. Lamai, with her female Muslim friends and colleagues, had made this crucial step possible by first convening small platforms of interaction among women in the South. These platforms and casual gatherings would later lead to the establishment of PAOW and their memorable proposal to peace dialogue parties.
Success Stories
When asked about her success story, Ms Lamai mentioned PAOW’s 2015 proposal on the Safety Zone as the most celebrated success of her activist’s life. “It is not easy for women of the south to come together as we come from different backgrounds. Some are Thai Buddhists, while others are Malay Muslims. We have different levels of pain, suffering, and capability to engage in this type of peace work. How we look at conflict is also different. Some prefer to cut ties with the state and its agencies, while others think that there are some benefits to engaging with state actors and the army. So, it isn’t easy for us to come to an agreement on what kind of peace landscape we envisioned.” noted Ms Lamai. Overcoming these challenges and finding a middle ground where female activists/peacebuilders can work together are the first things to do for strong women's unity and collaboration. Lamai said equipping women of the south with knowledge and skills in conflict analysis and peacebuilding is still necessary. It is also crucial for the women's group to develop a working relationship with all stakeholders in the conflict.
Because of her outstanding activism and tireless dedication to building peace and protecting the rights of the people in the southernmost region, Ms Lamai received many awards and recognition from various organisations. For example, on March 8th, International Women's Day, 2005, she received the ‘Woman Who Protects Human Rights’ award from the Human Rights Commission of Thailand. In 2017, she also received an award from Prince Songkhla University (PSU) for her active roles and dedication to promoting peace in the southernmost region.