Thailand Ready To Hold Peace Talks W/ Muslims

[george]

Thailand Ready to Hold Peace Talks

BANGKOK: -- The Thai government said Monday that it is ready to hold peace talks with the leader of an Islamic insurgent organization after he reportedly gave up the demand for a separate homeland in the country's Muslim south.

Defense Minister Chetta Thanajaro told reporters that the government has already made "official-level contact" with Wan Kadir Che Man, the leader of Bersatu, an umbrella organization of three insurgent groups.

"If the leader wishes to talk we are ready to talk. Don't forget that he is a Thai national," Chetta said.

Meanwhile, Wan Kadir was quoted by The Nation newspaper as saying that he is willing to give up a century-old demand for a separate homeland in the south, the only Muslim-majority areas in the predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

Wan Kadir's reported willingness to talk about self-autonomy could be a major step in ending the spate of violence in the Muslim south that has left more than 200 people dead this year alone.

"This is the age of globalization. The world has moved on and there is no more room for separatism," Wan Kadir was quoted as saying by The Nation.

Reconciliation could come about only if Thailand's minority Muslims are given more "political space" and have a bigger say in the development of the south, Wan Kadir, who lives in exile in neighboring Malaysia, was quoted as saying.

He heads Bersatu, an umbrella organization of three Islamic insurgent groups, whose activities in the south have raised fears that Thailand could become another breeding ground for international terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida or its regional arm Jemaah Islamiyah. However, there has been no evidence of deep foreign involvement in the south so far.

Thai Muslims, who are linguistically and culturally closer to Malays of Malaysia, complain that the government does not recognize their Islamic Malay culture, tries to suppress their language and discriminates against them in jobs and education.

In comments Monday to the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Thai language service, Wan Kadir said he is ready to talk with the Thai government but did not confirm Chetta's claim that contacts have already been made.

"They are trying their best ... so we should sit and talk," he said, speaking in Thai on the BBC program monitored in Bangkok.

The separatist insurgency simmering for decades in the provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani turned violent a few years ago.

--AP 2004-05-24