Malaysia, Thailand Reaffirm Commitment to Deep South Peace

The prime ministers of Malaysia and Thailand vowed Friday in Bangkok that their governments would keep working together to resolve a separatist insurgency in the Thai Deep South as well as strengthen cross-border security ties.

The comments came a week after Malaysia hosted the latest round of informal talks between Thailand’s government and southern Thai insurgents, and despite a spate of deadly bombings in southern Thailand over the past month claimed by the largest rebel group in the Muslim, Malay-speaking region.

“[I]n the context of security, Malaysia continues to be willing to provide our role as a facilitator to help in the peace process in the south. I, once again, reaffirm our commitment – and also our understanding – that this is a Thai domestic matter and will proceed according to the framework and guidelines given by the Thai government,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said during a joint news conference late Friday.

“We agreed on the issues of security, trade, the border economy as well as the peace talks for the Deep South,” Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha told the news conference that followed bilateral talks in Bangkok.

‘They move between our countries’

The two prime ministers said they agreed that their countries would share intelligence in collaborating to fight global terrorism and cross-border criminality such as human trafficking and smuggling.

“These are very, very important matters for us to work closely together because some of the perpetrators, they move between our two countries. So the security agencies need to cooperate closely together so that we will be able to apprehend them and bring them to justice,” Najib added.

The border region between Malaysia and Thailand is known to be rife with criminal activity, and southern Thai insurgents are believed to crisscross the frontier regularly. Thais suspect that people on the Malaysian side of the border harbor and aid southern rebels.

“Today, we must strongly cooperate in solving [all] problems, because the problems inside Thailand cause impact on Malaysia as well. We will use proper methods, such as intelligence exchange, information crosschecks, and immigration procedures,” Prayuth added.

The two PMs agreed to move ahead with exploring joint plans to build a wall or fence to secure their common border, according to Najib.

“[M]alaysia will continue to help in terms of vocational training for some of the young people in the south,” Najib told reporters. Prime Minister “Prayuth has requested us to help in terms of religious schools in the south so that they are able to study both academic as well as religious subjects.”

Full story: BenarNews

Somchai Kwankijsawet