Origami? Ori-freaking-gami?!!
Suffice it to say, “paper for peace” will not surpass “land for peace” in effectiveness.
More than 50 military aircraft dropped 120 million origami birds over southern Thailand yesterday in a gesture of peace towards three largely Muslim provinces where 540 people have died in violent clashes this year.
The extraordinary idea was proposed by Thaksin Shinawatra, the Prime Minister of Thailand, who has been criticised for using force rather than negotiation to counter Islamic unrest in the south of his predominantly Buddhist country.
It was the biggest paper drop in the region since the Allies had to convince thousands of Japanese troops that the Second World War had ended.
But the paper-bird exercise failed to quell the unrest. A retired prosecutor was shot dead at his shrimp farm in one of the rebellious provinces. The Pattani United Liberation Organisation, an outlawed group, said: “Even if you used 500 baht (£7) banknotes to fold 100 million birds . . . it would not stop the suffering of those who have been severely oppressed.”
Air force planes trailing coloured smoke started dropping the origami cranes at 9.09am yesterday: nine is regarded as a lucky number in Thailand.
The birds had been folded by volunteers including cabinet ministers and convicts during the past two weeks, and were dropped on the 77th birthday of Thailand’s revered King Bumiphol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-serving monarch. One signed by the Prime Minister offered an educational scholarship or job to whoever found it. Others offered rewards in an apparent attempt to prevent a problem with litter — 50,000 birds secured a bicycle, 10,000 a table fan, and 250 a bag of sugar.
Children in the provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani rushed out eagerly to greet the falling birds, but the air drop was regarded by many Islamic leaders as propaganda and received a lukewarm reception. Moreover, many of the birds carried the inscription “No separatism for south Thailand.”
“The majority of people in the south do not see any significance in origami cranes,” Abdulraman Abdulsamad, chairman of the Islamic Council of Narathiwat, said. “The idea is not totally bad. At least we could remind ourselves that violence is not a good thing. But the people need more than paper gestures.”
The birds also came with a warning from Mr Thaksin. At a press conference the day before the drop he said that he would try to win back the south with “love and warmth,” but added: “If they don’t stop we’re justified to do what’s required to sustain unity.”
The three restive provinces have been part of Thailand for just over 100 years. An insurgency that has rumbled on there for decades flared in January.
The idea of using an origami crane as a peace symbol originated in Japan after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
In what is obviously a clash of vastly different cultures, any hope vested in this maneuver shows a lack of understanding of the Islamic opposition that would make Neville Chamberlain cringe.