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| Southeast Asia |
| Thailand, Malaysia to discuss violence in Muslim south |
| 2002-11-02 |
| Malaysiakini Thai Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha is to visit Kuala Lumpur next week, officials said today, reportedly for talks over a series of bombing and arson attacks in the Muslim-majority south. "He will make a one-day visit on Thursday Nov 7, mainly to hold talks with his Malaysian counterpart (Syed Hamid Albar)," an interior ministry official told AFP. They can compare notes on bad guys... Two bombs exploded Tuesday at a Buddhist temple and a hotel in the provincial capital of Pattani, causing minor damage, while five schools were set ablaze in neighbouring Songkhla province in pre-dawn attacks the same day. The attack on a temple certainly sounds like Islamists. I'm not sure about the school attacks — the kiddies weren't in them. One suspect has been arrested over the incidents, which Thai authorities have said were carried out by local gangsters and were not the work of international terrorists. Of course, it's often so hard to tell the difference... Thailand's five southern provinces have in recent years been plagued by Muslim separatism but most analysts now believe the remnants of the militant groups are incapable of carrying out major attacks. Authorities have failed to make any arrests over an earlier spate of violence in the region where since December more than 20 policemen have been killed, trains bombed, government offices attacked and weapons depots raided. Provincial leaders and Islamic authorities say the culprits are not Islamic separatists, but criminals fighting over the profits from illegal businesses including smuggling and prostitution. If they don't clean up that kind of nonsense they're going to have the Islamic kinds of nonsense. When local crooks are knocking over weapons depots and gunning down a couple dozen coppers, you've lost control. If they don't reassert it, they've got big problems. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |