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| Southeast Asia |
| Little sympathy for Thai hard boyz in Malaysia |
| 2004-09-07 |
| Deep in a palm oil estate in Malaysia's north, a cluster of about 20 wooden huts sits around a brick mosque. The mosque doors are padlocked and chained. Despite the peaceful appearance of this Islamic school, Malaysian police are watching it closely after Thai lawmakers said teachers there had taught Thais to take up arms in a rebellion that has cost more than 320 lives this year. Long-dormant separatist feelings erupted in January in Thailand's Muslim south, where a low-level insurgency was fought in the 1970s and 1980s. "The police have been here more than 10 times, the latest this morning," said Azhar Baharudin, 28, who lives nearby. The Islamic school, or madrassa, is a 30-minute trek up a sandy path in a remote village near Sungai Ular (Snake River) in northeastern Terengganu state, about 200 km (120 miles) from the Thai border. The school, which teaches its young charges the ideals of Islam, was founded by a Malaysian religious teacher of Thai parentage who died in 1996. Locals said classes continue, with around 20-30 mostly Thai students a time taking lessons there during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which falls in October this year. A freshly cemented brick enclosure, raised just outside the mosque, points to recent activity. "They come once a year to clean it up and pray. They don't teach militancy here; it's just religious teaching," Azhar told Reuters. The Thai government says it cannot pinpoint precisely what sparked the latest violence in the country's south. But it says the largely Malay-speaking area needs a long-term development scheme and has pledged $300 million over the next three years for roads, better schools and new jobs. Late last month, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra toured the Muslim south and promised to reverse Bangkok's neglect of the region. He promised free pilgrimages to Mecca for Muslim informants who turned in those behind the violence as well as programmes to tackle poverty and improve education in the area. Bangkok has passed to Malaysia the names of two dozen separatists it believes have taken refuge across the border but Kuala Lumpur says it cannot find them. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 The locals are traditional animists who mixed their beliefs with Buddhism when it passed through - called Theravada Buddhism. Before the Islamists came, there was centuries of peace in that region. Centuries. Wherever goeth Islam, there goeth grief. Something wicked this way comes, indeed. Fry 'em up. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-09-07 12:46:20 AM |