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Youth in Thailand's Deep South to Get Mental Rehabilitation

Posted on: Sunday, 19 February 2006, 09:00 CST

Youth in Thailand's deep south to get mental rehabilitation

BANGKOK, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Thai Muslim youth in the violence- plagued southern provinces will get training in a mental rehabilitation camp next month to cultivate cooperative attitude toward the authorities.

The scheme targets youth aged 13-14, a risk group who could easily be misled by ill-intentioned people, said Somchai Chakrabhand, chief of the Mental Health Department which initiated the program.

According to a survey of the department, more than 60,000 teenagers in the deep South should attend the program, including some 6,000 youngsters who may join the insurgents.

Suspected assailants involved in daily killings in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat were mostly uneducated and jobless Muslim teenagers, he was quoted by Bangkok Post as saying Saturday.

The building up of a positive perception toward government officers will help prevent them from getting into illegal activities, he added.

The scheme, co-organized by local non-governmental organizations and religious leaders, was proposed following last year's mental rehabilitation camp in Nakhon Ratchasima, which was attended by more than 500 Muslim teenagers.

Deputy Public Health Minister Anuthin Charnveerakul said activities would be designed to meet the demands of different groups of youngsters with different backgrounds, adding the activities would allow the youths to speak out, while mental health staff would be obliged to listen to their opinions.

"Political psychology" and improving the villagers' quality of life are key to prevent teenagers in the deep South from falling into the hands of militants, said Pol Gen Chidchai Wannasathit, deputy prime minister and justice minister.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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