A major problem with this peace process is the extent to which it reflects Thailand’s profoundly divided and dysfunctional domestic politics, which have proved a major stumbling block to attempts to address the Southern conflict. While the Abhisit government lent support to the Geneva process involving an international NGO, the Yingluck government has distanced itself from that initiative and is backing a process for which the driving force is the self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Paradorn, Tawee and Nipat are known to be in regular communication—including during the Kuala Lumpur talks—with Thaksin, receiving a stream of messages and calls from Dubai. Thaksin’s involvement in the process makes it highly questionable in the eyes of his many political opponents and critics, who hold him at least partly responsible for the dramatic escalation of the insurgency during his period as prime minister (2001-06).