Thailand to build border security fence

Thailand to build border security fence

Boonradom Chitradorn Agence France-Presse Bangkok

Thailand will build a security fence along sections of its border with Malaysia as part of efforts to curb deadly unrest in the Muslim-majority south, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Tuesday.

"I have instructed the Thai Supreme Command (military) to build a fence at sensitive points, not along the whole demarcation line," Thaksin said after a meeting with Muslim leaders.

The premier did not say how extensive the structure would be, but added that it would cost about 2.0 million baht (US$51,000) per kilometer to build.

Thaksin has expressed grave concerns over a recent wave of violence in the five southern provinces bordering Malaysia, beginning with a raid on an arms depot in Narathiwat province last month which killed four soldiers.

Since then dozens of attacks have targeted police, government officials and even Buddhist monks, three of whom were brutally slashed to death with machetes as they walked the streets seeking alms.

The troubled provinces are strung along a narrow peninsula and separated from Malaysia only by a porous border which can be easily crossed without passing through checkpoints.

Thai authorities have said they believe those responsible for the violence include separatists with dual nationalities who hide out in Malaysia before sneaking back into Thailand and launching attacks.

Some 5,000 people hold dual Thai-Malaysian citizenship, and they have been allowed to cross the border at will. But both nations have expressed concern over the issue and the Thai government is conducting a detailed survey of them which is due to be completed at the end of March.

Malaysia commended the plan to build the fence, with deputy defense minister Shafie Apdal saying it would help security forces from both nations to tackle smuggling, illegal entry and other cross-border criminal activities.

"They have a right to build the fence on their side. There should not be any problems. It will be good," he told AFP.

Senior Thai officials, including Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Noor Matha who is himself a Muslim, have also expressed concern that Islamic schools in the south could be breeding grounds for militancy.

Thaksin denied he planned to shut down some of the schools, saying he would instead focus on bringing them into line with the rest of the education system by introducing non-secular subjects to the curriculum.

After rows between the government and Islamic leaders over the handling of the violence, Thaksin said after a weekend visit to the region that the two sides now understood each better and would cooperate more fully.

"Islamic leaders have proposed to the government that they participate in the government's development plan," he said, adding that he will also call a meeting of governors of the five Muslim-majority provinces.

The spiritual leader of Thailand's Muslims, Chulatattamontri Sawas Sumalayasak, has called for his people to pledge their loyalty to the kingdom and the nation's much-loved monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

After the talks with Thaksin on Tuesday, Sawas said he believed the problems in the south were caused not by separatists but by gangs involved in illicit trades which flourish there, including arms and oil smuggling.