Author:
Publication: Seven Network
Date: June 5, 2004
URL: http://seven.com.au/news/topstories/88059
Malaysia is sending moderate Islamic
preachers to the restive, Muslim-dominated south of Thailand, at Bangkok's
request, to spread a message of peace and progress in hopes of curbing
the region's wave of violence.
The violence in predominantly Buddhist
Thailand has left about 280 people dead since January. Thai officials blame
the unrest in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat on separatist
Islamic insurgents.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi said the troubles there are a "very, very big concern" for
Malaysia because of the close contacts across the border between southern
Thai Muslims and northern Malaysians.
"We have been asked to provide,
to give lectures on the role of Islamic development," Abdullah said in
an interview with CNN's Talk Asia program.
"The idea is that (Thais) wouldn't
want to deal with militant Islam, but an Islam and Muslims who are committed
to progress, committed to development, who like peace and are moderate
in their ways," he told CNN's Talk Asia.
Abdullah did not say when the preachers'
visits would start.
The neighbouring governments agreed
on the initiative during a meeting last month in Bangkok. Malaysia has
also offered job-training for southern Thais and to cooperate with Thailand
in tightening security along the border.
Southern Thai Muslims have long
complained of discrimination in jobs and education. A low-level separatist
movement in the area virtually disappeared after a government amnesty in
the 1980s.
The violence resurfaced this year
with an attack on an army arsenal on January 4 and the torching of 21 schools.
A wave of drive-by shootings and other attacks - mostly targeting the Buddhist-dominated
establishment - has left 140 civilians and 29 policemen dead.
On April 28, Thai security forces
- responding to a wave of coordinated attacks on security outposts - shot
and killed 107 alleged militants in the worst carnage in Thailand's recent
history. Five policemen and soldiers also were killed in those clashes.
An attack on a Chinese Buddhist
shrine in Pattani town on Tuesday and the beheading of a Buddhist rubber
tapper last week have raised fears that the insurgents are not only targeting
the establishment but pushing to spark broader sectarian strife in the
region.
