Thailand is considering opening its border with Malaysia

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

THAILAND will examine reopening the Thai-Malaysia border, as advocated by southern parliament members.

Its advance command dealing with Covid-19 in the southern region, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), is due to discuss and make a decision on the topic this week.

According to a storey in the Bangkok Post, deputy government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek said the CCSA had previously agreed in principle to the plan and had asked its forward command to investigate the details.

Malaysia, on the other hand, is now watching the situation after discovering its first instance of the Omicron coronavirus variety in a foreign student quarantined after arriving from South Africa, she said.

 

"At a meeting planned next Monday, the forward command will debate the border reopening proposal and present the topic to the CCSA for consideration," Rachada added.

The advance command is officially designated as the Covid-19 resolution integration centre in the southern border provinces.

 

Rachada stated that the government intended to restore the Thai-Malaysian border, and that the CCSA had met on November 26 to examine the Covid-19 situation in five southern provinces, including Songkhla, Satun, Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani, with intentions to reopen border checks on December 16.

Sa Dao border checkpoint in Songkhla, Sungai Kolok checkpoint in Narathiwat, Betong checkpoint in Yala, and Wang Prachan checkpoint in Satun were all originally planned for reopening, she said.

"However, at its meeting next Monday, the CCSA will reach a decision on the case," she stated.

She went on to say that the action had been reported to Malaysian authorities by the Foreign Ministry.

 

She noted that the reopening of the border is likely to stimulate local tourism and economic growth in the southern region.

Rachada also stated that the Omicron strain has not been detected in the southern border provinces of Songkhla, Satun, Trang, Phatthalung, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, according to a Public Health Ministry inspector-general in charge of Songkhla, Satun, Trang, Phatthalung, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat.

Pol Maj Gen Surin Palare, a Democrat Party MP for Songkhla, is one of the MPs who has asked for the Thai-Malaysian border to be reopened.

As a result of Covid-19, he claimed, the border has been closed for almost two years, hurting Thai labourers who have been stranded in Malaysia.