Religious abuse perils

Friday is the third anniversary of the worst single terrorist attack in modern Thailand. The poorly investigated, badly prosecuted bombing of the Erawan shrine killed 20 people and injured more than 100. The hurried police work concluded it was the act of foreigners angry at the government's success against human trafficking. The "foreigners" turned out to be Chinese Uighurs, two of whom were arrested and are still undergoing trial. The only known Thai suspect is on bail and her trial is officially pending, unofficially unlikely.

In the rush to get the event behind them and assure future tourists that Bangkok is still a safe city, police and the army generals missed a lot of clues. The fact they didn't even try to publish a final report made sense. It would have been strongly criticised. The supposed motive is highly suspect. Almost all the casualties of the Erawan were ethnic Chinese, the majority from the mainland. A second bomb was supposed to have been detonated at the most popular Bangkok destination for Chinese tourists -- Asiatique. The bomber was reportedly caught up in a traffic jam and ended up throwing his device in the river.

It is thus far more likely that the suspected Uighur mastermind, along with the known and probable accomplices including the arrested Thai woman, were aiming to harm Chinese for their government's policies. Police have denied and will deny this more plausible motive of the bombers. However, the actions of the Chinese government against Uighurs and other Muslim people speak volumes. To those of a terrorist mindset, attacking innocent Chinese and ethnic Chinese tourists in Thailand is an easier task than taking the issue or real and alleged mistreatment to the Chinese authorities responsible.