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| Southeast Asia |
| Mahathir brokers Thai talks |
| 2006-10-09 |
| Malaysia's ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad brokered talks between Thai officials and Muslim groups from Thailand's south to help resolve the conflict there, his office confirmed for the first time yesterday. The revelation came amid indications from Thailand's new government that authorities want to hold peace talks with insurgent groups from the country's Muslim-majority southern provinces. A spokesman from Dr Mahathir's office confirmed the ex-premier had arranged meetings between Thai officials and Muslim leaders from Thailand's south in the last quarter of 2005. ``Yes he did try to broker a ceasefire, that started off some time last year and there have been about two meetings so far,'' he said. The meetings were on Malaysia's northern holiday island of Langkawi, which is close to the countries' shared border and where Dr Mahathir has business interests, he said. Dr Mahathir, 81, was quoted as saying in a report on Saturday that he had initiated a peace plan and that it was up to Thai authorities to continue the efforts. ``My mission is now complete. It is now up to the Thai authorities to proceed with follow-up action,'' Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying in the Star newspaper. The elder statesman said he initiated peace talks after discussions with former Thai premier Mr Anand Panyarachun and had also consulted with Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej. ``I sought an audience with the king in October following Mr Anand's advice. The king agreed with Mr Anand's suggestion that I be involved in the peace initiative for southern Thailand,'' said Dr Mahathir. Several insurgent groups, including Bersatu and the Patani United Liberation Organisation, attended the meetings, while the The Thai government was represented by Lieutenant-General Vaipot Srinual, Dr Mahathir's spokesman said. Malaysian deputy premier Mr Najib Razak said Dr Mahathir had brokered the talks as the head of a non-government organisation and that Malaysia would not intefere in Thailand's internal politics, reports said yesterday. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #4 Lol, Pappy. Excellent analogy. Never met the man myself, but I was in-country enough to get an idea of what he was like. He'd make a great Arab (though being Malay, he'd consider that an insult). |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-10-09 18:46 |
| #3 His time is over but his bad mouth stays. A man whose inconsistency and hypocrisy is only unknown to himself. This is not to say that his successor is that much different apart from the mouth odor bit. |
| Posted by: Duh! 2006-10-09 05:30 |
| #2 Lol, Pappy. Excellent analogy. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-09 04:38 |
| #1 In other news, the Big Bad Wolf brokered talks between the sheep and other wolves.... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-10-09 00:23 |