BANGKOK: Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra apologised on Sunday over the deaths of scores of Muslim protesters who suffocated in army trucks two decades ago in the country’s south.

The apology is believed to be the first he has made in public over the incident known as the “Tak Bai massacre”, and comes nearly four months after the statute of limitations expired and murder charges against seven suspects were dropped.

The massacre has long stood as an emblem of state impunity in Thailand’s Muslim-majority southernmost provinces, where an insurgency has rumbled for years between government forces and separatists seeking greater autonomy for a region that is culturally and religiously distinct from the Buddhist-majority country.

Thaksin, who was premier at the time of the massacre, said he wanted to apologise for any actions that may have made people “feel uneasy”. “When I was a prime minister, I had a strong intention to care for local people,” he said, when asked about the massacre during his first visit to the area known as the “deep south” in 19 years.

“If there was any mistake or any discontent caused by me, I would like to apologise.” Anchana Heemmina, co-founder of Thai rights group Duay Jai, said it was the first time Thaksin had apologised.

“If he is sincere (about the apology), he should (also) say sorry to the families... face to face,” she said.

On October 25, 2004, security forces opened fire on a crowd protesting outside a police station in the town of Tak Bai in Narathiwat province, close to the Malaysian border, killing seven people.

Subsequently, 78 people suffocated after they were arrested and stacked on top of each other in the back of Thai military trucks, face down and with their hands tied behind their backs.

In August last year, a provincial court accepted a criminal case filed by victims’ families against seven officials, including a former army commander elected to parliament for the Shinawatras’ Pheu Thai party in 2023. But the officials avoided appearing in court, preventing the case from progressing, and in October Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shina­watra — Thaksin’s daughter — said it was not possible to extend the statute of limitations.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2025