MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Malaysia is as reponsible as Thailand for the situation in southern Thailand

The Malaysian foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar, has called on Thailand to win over its Muslims. He meant the Malay provinces of southern Thailand, which has remained provinces of Thailand for over a century, as Kelatantan and Trengannu was until 1942 and during the war years part of Japanese empire. It was only after the war that it became part of Malaya. On the west coast, Kedah and Parlis was under Thai suzerainty until it was separated from Thailand in the early 20th century. Tengku Abdul Rahman Putra, born of the Kedah royal family and this nation's first prime minister, was educated in Thailand and his mother was Thai. But Malaysia was after independence in 1957 have blamed the British for allowing the southern Thai Malay provinces to be under the control of Thailand. In 1976, when Thailand abrogated the rule whereby the Malaysians could operate in southern Thailand to prevent the Malayan Communist Party from using the area as a safe haven and Malaysian troops prevented them from coming the border.

This was abrogated because the Malaysian government had promised in return that Malay irredentists would not cross the border into Kelantan. But the Malaysians did not honour its promise because relatives lived across in Kelantan, and while MCP was prevented, with Thai help, to maintain a safe haven in south Thailand, Malay separatists in southern Thailand was not. I visited Betong in 1976, before the Thais abrogated the border agreemnt, and met the commanding officer of the Royal Malay Regiment, who later became director of military intelligence and a lieutenant-general, and he made no bones then and later of Malaysia's opposition to plans to allow the MCP to settle in northern Malaysia while allowing the southern Thai Malays free access to Kelantan and beyond. This was policy at that time. I have met southern Thai separatists at the Prime Minister's Department, and in fact interviewed them. They lived with a reporter in the Berita Harian, who introduced me to them.

Malaysia is still involved in south Thailand. One of my best friends, whom I had not seen for four months and certainly not since the two strokes I had in July, is, I believe, trapped in southern Thailand. His mother is from south Thailand, and while his visit to southern Thailand is personal, I have reason to believe it was official as. He is in Malaysia's intelligence agencies. What he had told me about what happens in southern Thailand, and his exploits there, which I am not at liberty to expound here, makes me believe that Malaysia is involved in southern Thailand. Tengku Rithaudeen, who now is an UMNO bigwig, is from Pattani, and suceeded his uncle, who had head of the Malay separatists in southern Thailand, went to school in Bangkok with Thai politicians in Bangkok but was an MP in Malaysia. The Old Man kept his friends with Thai politicians, and was an honoured guest when Thai leaders came a calling in the 1960s and 1970s. Thailand protested when Tengku Rithaudeen was appointed deputy defence minister in the 1970s, for the rigtful reason he might not use the Malaysian troops against Thai separatists in southern Thailand.

I have reason to believe that UMNO continues to support the southern Thai Malays. But they have changed the nomenclature, They support the Muslims in south Thailand, not the Malays, in keeping with modern political developments. It has become Islamic and tries to defeat PAS, which rules Kelantan, at the Islamic game. So long as it remains a local political football of UMNO and PAS, the Federal government will continue to be involved. They do not talk of Malays anymore, for as Muslims, the southern Thai Malay is cannon fodder to every Islamic group after the 9/11 situation. The southern Thai Malays generally do not speak Thai, the official language of Thailand, and look to support from Malaysia – either as Malays or as Muslims. What Malaysia and Thailand does not want is an independent Islamic Malay nation. Which is why the Isthmus or Kra canal will not be cut, for that would deny the Malays from the Thais. The King of Thailand spends part of his holiday in southern Thailand, but is that enough?

Syed Hamid Albar says Thaksin Shinawatra should have "some" discussions with his country's Muslim leaders before he acted. That was true, but he knew all along that Malaysia was involved in southern Thailand. Malaysia was only concerned with solving MCP using southern Thailand as a base, not withj eradicating Malaysia as a base for southern Thai Malays. The Malaysian intelligence agencies are involved in keeping the southern Thai Malay Muslim alive, because PAS is. Many Malaysians have relatives across the border in south Thailand. A 131 southern Thais have crossed the border into Malaysia but Malaysia will allow them in although Syed Hamid Albar says the records have to be checked. PAS is there to make sure of that. Since the south and its seas provide much of Thailand's oil, it can stand as an independent state. It does not want to be part of Thailand. With Islamic credentials, and with support from Islamic organizations, it would rather be independent. Thailand and Malaysia is aware of that, and does not want that to happen. But that will. Many southern Thai Muslims favour Bangkok, and would resist strongly to joining Malaysia. But they are not as big as that group which wants an independent state. There would be an exodus of senior members of business and politics, who were once from south Thailand who would be happy to go back. Syed Hamid should get a briefing from the intelligence community before he opens his mouth.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com