KL agrees to sign border fence pact

Thailand and Malaysia will sign a pact to build a fence along their border, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said yesterday.

Also included in the memorandum of understanding will be a commitment to work together to deal with transnational crime, and problems concerning dual nationality in the southernmost provinces.

Gen Prawit was speaking after returning from a visit to Malaysia to discuss security cooperation with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The discussion took place ahead of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s official visit to Thailand scheduled for Sept 9.

Gen Prawit was accompanied by security officials including National Council Security secretary-general Thawip Netniyom, national police chief Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda, deputy permanent secretary for defence Gen Chaicharn Changmongkol, and Gen Surapong Suwanna-at, chief-ofstaff of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.

Gen Prawit, who is also the defence minister, said the discussion focused on measures to solve the problems in the restive deep South.

He adding that peace talks with groups believed to be behind the southern unrest will resume on Friday as planned despite the recent bomb blast at the Southern View Hotel in downtown Pattani, which claimed two lives and left 30 injured.

He also said Thai and Malaysian police are now working together to investigate the mobile phones and SIM cards used in the bomb and arson attacks in seven provinces earlier this month.

Regarding a move to set up “a government forward command” to handle the southern violence, Gen Prawit said 10 people with experience in dealing with the southern unrest will be picked to lead the command. They may be civilians or soldiers, but not state officials, he said.

Gen Prawit stressed that the forward command is needed to fast-track ways to handle the southern problem.

He said the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) Region 4 Forward Command, and the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre will remain in operation to deal with the southern conflict.

But the government forward command will help the prime minister, who is the exofficio Isoc director, to make quick decisions on security matters, Gen Prawit said.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday said he has instructed Gen Aksara Kerdphol, who leads the Thai team in talks with the Mara Patani group representing insurgents, to discuss ways to end violence in the deep South before peace talks can resume.

Gen Prayut said the current problem is that the peace talks cannot make progress because several independent small insurgent groups refuse to take part.

Col Peerawat Saengthong, an Isoc spokesman, yesterday denied a rumour that about 700 Malaysian national flags would be smuggled in across the southern border for use in a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the founding of the Bersatu separatist group tomorrow with possible flare-ups of violence.

Col Peerawat said security officials have been closely monitoring the situation in the far South ahead of tomorrow, which is also Malaysia’s Independence Day.