This time of year, couples often show their love for each other. But political prisoners and their spouses are not so fortunate, and remain separated, often for many years. Romuelah Saeyeh spent one half of her married life – five years – going back and forth to Pattani prison in order to visit her husband, Muhamadanwar Hajiteh, whom she knows as Anwar, an activist working in Thailand’s three southern provinces.  

After being forced to shut down since the 2014 coup, along with many other community radio stations in the area, Media Selatan, a local Malay radio station in the Deep South, is coming back on air early this year. The director of Media Selatan states that shutting down local media is tantamount to closing channels for citizens to express their opinions about the ongoing peace process. 

The Deep South peace process often focuses on the Muslim Malay, but there are several other minorities that do not have much of a voice in this process. Prachatai talks with a Buddhist Thai group, an LGBT group, and ethnic Chinese on their views on the regional unrest. 

“Patani” is now a very controversial term used to refer to the area encompassing the provinces of Pattani (with 2 t’s,), Yala, Narathiwat, and 4 provinces of Songkhla, mostly inhabited by Malay Muslims and infamous in the news for being a space of conflict. The term arguably carries a strong sense of separatism. The increasing use of the term by CSO, media and the separatists themselves raises concerns among the non-Malay Muslim whether they are included as Patani people and if they will have a say in the right to determine the future of the region.

At the mention of the Thai sex industry, sexpats may start spouting off about their expertise in establishments at Soi Cowboy, Nana, Patpong, and Pattaya. Much less-publicized, however, is the local sex industry catering to Thais. Services offered at the so-called bathing-sauna-massage parlours are different from those for foreign tourists.