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The Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) was established in 1981 to monitor the work of civilian government agencies and to coordinate with security forces in Thailand's troubled Malay Muslim majority provinces in the south. Over two decades, the SBPAC developed a reputation for improving the quality of local governance and curbing support for armed separatism. The dissolution of the SPBAC, and its suppressive counterpart the Civilian-Police-Military Command-43 (CPM-43), in 2002 figures prominently in many existing accounts of the contemporary insurgency. Conflicting interpretations of the role of the SBPAC highlight a distinction between its mundane functions and its apparent value to many Malay Muslims as a symbol of the Thai state's goodwill. Studies from the 1990s show that in spite of its shortcomings, the SBPAC achieved a degree of success in building confidence in the Thai state among local Malay Muslim leaders. The decision to revive the SBPAC in 2006 attests to the appeal of its "brand" and the logic of its hearts-and-minds approach to security and development. However, absent mechanisms for popular political representation at the sub-regional level, such an approach is of limited utility.
Keywords: Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC), administration, counter-insurgency, bureaucracy, Ministry of Interior.
In December 1997, during an increase in attacks by Malay Muslim separatists, Minister for Interior Sanan Kachornprasat announced that the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) would be dissolved. The SBPAC was established in 1981 to improve and coordinate civilian administration in the far south, a region beset by communist and separatist insurgencies, ethnic and religious cleavages and economic underdevelopment. In cooperation with a joint security-operations agency, the Civilian-Police-Military Command-43 (CPM-43), the SBPAC developed a reputation for improving governance and helping to curb armed separatism. As attacks increased in late 1997, the SBPAC came under critical scrutiny following newspaper reports of high-level dissatisfaction with the Centre's performance. In late November, Deputy Interior Minister Chamni Sakdiset indicated that the SBPAC needed to be overhauled.1 In mid-December, Chamni suggested dissolving the SBPAC and transferring its responsibilities to local authorities and the police.2 At the end of the month, Sanan declared, "It's now time to disband the agency. [...] The agency is of no use now."3 With the SBPAC under threat, local Malay Muslim leaders rallied to its...