Kl Rebuffs Thaksin Over Walkout Vow

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Malay FM says Thai premier should not avoid Tak Bai questions as the violence could spill to other countries

Diplomatic tension heightened yesterday between Thailand and Malaysia after the latter insisted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra should not try to stop his Asean partners from discussing the Muslim unrest gripping his country's deep South.

On Thursday, a day after Malaysia's parliament endorsed an opposition motion condemning the Tak Bai clampdown on October 25 that led to the suspicious deaths of at least 85 Thai-Muslim protesters, Thaksin threatened to walk out of the Asean summit in Laos next week if leaders raised the "internal" issue of Thailand.

Asean's policy of not interfering in the affairs of its 10 members "should not let it happen", he said.

But the foreign minister of neighbouring Muslim-majority Malaysia, Syed Hamid Albar, said there was "no such thing as absolute non-interference".

The issue is not on the leaders' agenda at the summit starting on Monday, but Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was likely to raise the subject, Syed said.

And while Asean members have no intention of interfering in Thailand's domestic affairs, they have a right to inquire about the situation because the threat could spill over to other countries, he said here.

"We don't want any of the Asean countries to become a breeding ground for a new form of terrorism," Syed told reporters.

"We know the Thais are able to handle it in a way that will bring peace and security in that province. But if anybody should ask that question, it should not be simply put aside as interference.

"The multilateral process is not for interference but for us to be well-guarded and to work together."We are interested in the latest and current position because we don't want it to affect our country," he said.

Yong Chanthalangsy, the Laotian spokesman of the summit, said there was nothing unusual about Thailand's position because of Asean's strict policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of its members.

"I think we have a golden rule, that is non-interference in the internal affairs of each other," he told a briefing.

"It is a courtesy among the leaders, among the ministers, that if one of the leaders does not wish to discuss a question, all the leaders will respect it," he said.

Decades-old separatist violence in Muslim-majority southern Thailand resurfaced at the beginning of this year and has since left around 550 people dead.

Concern about the unrest was inflamed by the October 25 deaths of 87 Muslims protesters, mostly through suffocation after they were piled into Army trucks. The killings prompted a spate of retaliatory attacks on Buddhists.

Thaksin said on Thursday ahead of the Asean meeting: "If the topic is raised, I will fly back home."

Malaysia's parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai's bid for the top United Nation's job could be at stake because of the prime minister's stance.

Thaksin has painted himself into a corner by making the statement, he said.

Asean leaders have in the past given explanations at summits about sensitive issues they deemed internal but of concern to countries in the region, he noted.

Former foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan joined the chorus of criticism against Thaksin's stance.

He said former Singapore prime minister Goh Chok Tong had once asked Burmese leader General Than Shwe to address the political turmoil in the war-torn country, while Indonesia's ex-president Abdurrahman Wahid had taken it upon himself to explain the violence in the restive province of Aceh.

In Kuala Lumpur, Democratic Action Party leader Lim said in a statement yesterday that the walkout threat could "only undermine the bid by the Thai government for its Foreign Minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, to succeed Kofi Annan as United Nations secretary-general".

Thaksin's threat was "most unbecoming a Thai premier and Asean leader", Lim said.

He pointed out that Surakiart had not walked out of the Apec meeting in Chile last week when US Secretary of State Colin Powell raised the issue of southern violence.

"Why should Thaksin now threaten to walk out of the Asean summit if leaders from other Asean countries raise the issue of the continuing unrest, violence and bloodshed involving Muslims and Buddhists at the Vientiane Asean summit?" he asked.

The deaths of at least 85 Muslim protesters on October 25 in Tak Bai, near the border with Malaysia, mostly from suffocation after being piled into Army trucks, has tarnished Thailand's image among Muslim nations and the wider international community.

Upset at the unanimous passing of a motion in Malaysia's parliament that condemned the Tak Bai deaths, Thaksin told reporters on Thursday: "If the topic is raised [at the Asean summit], I will fly back home."

Thaksin said yesterday his position remained unchanged.

Thaksin has also suggested that he might consider declaring personae non grata some members of the opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia who successfully pushed through the motion condemning Thailand's handling of the Tak Bai incident.

Meanwhile former foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan criticised Thaksin for unnecessarily painting himself in the corner by making such statements.

Surin said Indonesia and Malaysia had an added incentive to raise the issue because the former was trying to become the sixth permanent member of the UN Security Council while the latter was the current chair of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the world's largest forum of Muslim countries.

By making such statements Thaksin has essentially challenged the two countries to take a position, he said.

Chulalongkorn University security expert Panitan Wattanayagorn said he expected Indonesia and Malaysia to raise the issue with Thaksin at the summit in one way or another, because the two countries wanted to display their moral authority on the deaths of fellow Muslims.

Paisarn Promyong, deputy secretary-general of the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand, said Thaksin's statements reflected his "weakness and the fact that he cannot tolerate criticism".

"If he [Thaksin] insists that no excessive use of force was used then he should be able to explain the situation to other Asean leaders instead of running away from the problem," Paisarn said.

Suriyasai Kasetsila, secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Democracy, said Thaksin should be "brave enough to explain what happened".

"If the government's policy [on the deep South] is on the right track, then he shouldn't be afraid of defending it," Suriyasai said.

Agence France-Presse, The Nation

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