Thailand seeks closer ties with Muslim world
Thursday, August 2, 2007
THAILAND will seek closer ties with Muslim countries, particularly neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia, under a new security policy announced yesterday by the army-installed government.
The draft foreign policy on security said that over the next four years, Thailand will seek to strengthen ties with the Muslim world in a bid to defuse an insurgency in its own Muslim-majority southern provinces while also tackling other regional issues.
"With a lack of political unity among Thais ... and unrest in the three southern provinces, the country will face additional threats from international terrorism, transnational crime, drugs and illegal immigrants," the cabinet statement said.
Thailand could also face severe natural disasters due to climate change and outbreaks of diseases, such as bird flu.
"The government will increase its level of contact with Muslim countries, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia, with both local officials and government ministers in order to close any gaps in our relations," it said.
The government will also develop greater contacts with international Muslim organisations in order to explain the conflict in its southern provinces, the statement said.
The draft policy statement also said that Thailand should prepare for a shifting balance of power in the world and the region, as China, India and Australia seek to exert greater influence.
"China will be increasing its economic influence to almost the level of a superpower, while India and Australia are clearly aiming to increase their influence in this region," it said.
The document was drafted by Thailand's National Security Council, which groups the country's top security officials, and approved by the cabinet yesterday.
Meanwhile, separatist rebels launched a spate of gun, arson and bomb attacks in Thailand's rebellious Muslim far south yesterday, killing three people and wounding at least 12, police and soldiers said.
The attacks took place after dawn across the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, where more than 2,300 people have been killed in the three-year insurgency.
Militants shot dead two soldiers and wounded another as they patrolled a rail track in Yala.
The attackers walked away with two M-16 rifles and a pistol, police said.
The attack came shortly after 400 police and soldiers raided 17 targets in the capital of Yala province, but they found only four guns and no suspects, an army spokesman said.
In Narathiwat, insurgents set off a bomb hidden in a motorcycle parked in a busy market, killing a Buddhist woman and wounding 11 other shoppers, they said.
Other violence, including an arson attack on a petrol station and bombs hidden in rubbish bins, caused some damage but no casualties, police said.
Since last month, security forces have launched almost daily raids on suspected insurgent hideouts in villages and towns and have detained nearly 400 people without charge. Human rights groups are critical, saying detainees are exposed to potential abuses by the army.Agencies
The draft foreign policy on security said that over the next four years, Thailand will seek to strengthen ties with the Muslim world in a bid to defuse an insurgency in its own Muslim-majority southern provinces while also tackling other regional issues.
"With a lack of political unity among Thais ... and unrest in the three southern provinces, the country will face additional threats from international terrorism, transnational crime, drugs and illegal immigrants," the cabinet statement said.
Thailand could also face severe natural disasters due to climate change and outbreaks of diseases, such as bird flu.
"The government will increase its level of contact with Muslim countries, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia, with both local officials and government ministers in order to close any gaps in our relations," it said.
The government will also develop greater contacts with international Muslim organisations in order to explain the conflict in its southern provinces, the statement said.
The draft policy statement also said that Thailand should prepare for a shifting balance of power in the world and the region, as China, India and Australia seek to exert greater influence.
"China will be increasing its economic influence to almost the level of a superpower, while India and Australia are clearly aiming to increase their influence in this region," it said.
The document was drafted by Thailand's National Security Council, which groups the country's top security officials, and approved by the cabinet yesterday.
Meanwhile, separatist rebels launched a spate of gun, arson and bomb attacks in Thailand's rebellious Muslim far south yesterday, killing three people and wounding at least 12, police and soldiers said.
The attacks took place after dawn across the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, where more than 2,300 people have been killed in the three-year insurgency.
Militants shot dead two soldiers and wounded another as they patrolled a rail track in Yala.
The attackers walked away with two M-16 rifles and a pistol, police said.
The attack came shortly after 400 police and soldiers raided 17 targets in the capital of Yala province, but they found only four guns and no suspects, an army spokesman said.
In Narathiwat, insurgents set off a bomb hidden in a motorcycle parked in a busy market, killing a Buddhist woman and wounding 11 other shoppers, they said.
Other violence, including an arson attack on a petrol station and bombs hidden in rubbish bins, caused some damage but no casualties, police said.
Since last month, security forces have launched almost daily raids on suspected insurgent hideouts in villages and towns and have detained nearly 400 people without charge. Human rights groups are critical, saying detainees are exposed to potential abuses by the army.Agencies
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