Bangkok, Thailand -- The government's use of paper cranes to show goodwill towards people in the deep South ran counter to the Islamic faith and might have soured feelings in the Muslim-dominated region, Democrat MP Surin Pitsuwan said yesterday.
Mr Surin, debating southern violence and peace restoration measures, said that according to the Koran, God once sent flocks of birds to carry rocks from hell and dumped them on enemies of the religion invading the holy city of Mecca.
Mr Surin said he understood the government's concern for the people but a lack of knowledge about Islam could actually make matters worse.
Millions of origami birds from all over the country were air-dropped on violence-plagued Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat in December last year to show the whole nation cared about the people there.
``The locals may think the government regarded them as enemies of the state or the religion and so sent the paper birds to attack them,'' Mr Surin, a Muslim, said.
The building of any image and statue, particularly of a living thing, would also make Muslim believers uncomfortable because they worshipped only one god, he said. Idolatry is prohibited in Islam.
The Democrat MP was referring to the plan by Narathiwat governor Pracha Terat to use paper cranes to build a statue of peace in the province.
Thai Rak Thai list MP Areepen Uttarasin, however, said the plan had already been cancelled.
Aside from his call for the government to ensure it had a deeper understanding of Islam and the Muslim culture, Mr Surin asked government leaders to stop thinking they knew best how to end the southern violence.
To solve problems in the South, the government should promote cooperation among its analysts and intelligence agencies since they had still not agreed on its causes _ drugs, poverty, separatism or outside interference.
Mr Surin urged the government to listen more to local people, avoid making hurtful comments, ensure transparency in probes into major incidents, develop human resources and use international meetings of Islamic nations to restore peace.
Surachet Wae-arsae, a Democrat MP for Narathiwat, ruled out religious conflict as being the cause of the violence. He said important information may have been hidden from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and that was why he had made mistakes by matching violence with violence.