MUSLIM THREAT

Muslims shut down sections in the south of Thailand Friday.

This was in the Bangkok Post:

SOUTHERN UNREST / INSURGENT BAN ON FRIDAY WORK

Rebel threat shutters Yala, Pattani businesses

MUHAMAD AYUB PATHAN & ABDULLOH BENYAKAJ

All shops and markets in Pattani's Muang district were closed yesterday in the wake of rebel leaflets threatening to kill people who operated their businesses on Fridays, claiming it is an Islamic holy day. Muslim religious teachers, however, say there is nothing in the Koran forbidding work on Fridays. —

Threats of violence against people who work on Fridays brought businesses in Yala and Pattani to a standstill yesterday.

It was business as usual, however, in Narathiwat, another Muslim-dominated southern border province plagued by unrest, as shops, market vendors and townspeople defied a warning issued recently against working on Fridays, which claimed it was in breach of the Koran.

Downtown Yala looked like a ghost town as 80% of shops closed and buses plying between Yala and Pattani and some outlying districts halted services.Outside Yala, food shops, groceries, petrol stations and other businesses run by Muslims were also closed while there were no hawkers on the streets.

Yusuf Doloh, a Yala vendor, said despite a guarantee of safety from authorities, people still felt unsafe and had decided to take precautions.Security officials had asked people to live their lives normally.

Islamic religious leaders confirmed that working on Fridays was not wrong under their religion.

Some bus passengers could not go home and had to stay in town after services were suspended.

Business closure meant a day without income so some people were wondering out loud if threatening Muslims against working on Fridays was in breach of Islamic principles.

Yala governor Boonyasit Suwannarat went out to visit people and pledged to work out protection measures.

It was also quiet in Pattani. A market owner said vendors dared not sell their wares out of fear for their safety.''They said they were afraid of having their ears cut off,'' he said, adding that most people also stayed in their homes.

See the article in context Here.

Note that the assassins are called rebels. Both English papers here in Bangkok are very careful not to offend the killers who have dispatched over 800 Thai citizens. Their editorial policy is very close to that of the NY Times. Paul Krugman is their favorite columnist. He appears in their pages sometimes 3 times a week.

While they are careful not to offend assassins, they take every opportunity to vilify the United States. If they ever get in serious trouble, whom do you suspect will come to their aid? Will it be the Muslim assassins whom they obviously respect, or the Americans, for whom they have nothing but contempt?

Understand, these are the strange elitists who run the newspapers. They are totally out of touch with reality and the vast majority of the Thai people.