‘PM’S THAI VISIT BRINGS HOPE’

Thai expert believes Dr M may break stalemate in Thai govt, Mara Patani peace talks

THERE is an air of anticipation over the visit by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Thailand later this month, especially in bringing the muchneeded progress into the “deadlocked” southern Thai peace talks.

Experts believe the two-day visit by Malaysia’s seventh prime minister to Bangkok on Oct 24 and 25 was vital in breaking the stalemate plaguing the peace talks between the Thai government and Mara Patani.

“Dr Mahathir’s visit will be significant to the progress of the peace talks, which have been at a stalemate,” Dr Srisompob Jitpiromsiri, a long-time analyst of conflicts in southern Thailand, told Bernama.

The academician at the Prince of Songkla University in Pattani said the bilateral visit by the Malaysian leader would be a significant step for both governments, as they collaborated to solve the problems in southern Thailand.

Srisompob, one of the founders of Deep South Watch, a non-governmental organisation monitoring the conflict, said he believed Dr Mahathir and his new point man in the peace talks, Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor, would bring new proposals for Bangkok’s consideration.

Rahim, Malaysia’s former inspector-general of police and a new facilitator of the peace talks, is a man with “wide experience in dialogue process in southern Thailand” and is expected to be among Kuala Lumpur’s entourage to Bangkok later this month, he said.

Rahim replaced Datuk Seri Ahmad Zamzamin Hashim.

Malaysia has been facilitating the southern Thai peace process since late 2014, arranging several rounds of talks between delegations from the Thai government and Mara Patani. Thailand, on its part, is in the midst of appointing a new lead negotiator to replace General Aksara Kerdphol. Former army 4th Region commander General Udomchai Thammasarorath is set to be officially named to take over the post next week.

One of the “new proposals” under consideration and which could be presented during the visit would be the inclusion of new “groups or factions” to Mara Patani, which if implemented, would make the peace talks more inclusive and substantive.

The new parties in Mara Patani could potentially include the military wing of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) and different faction in Pulo (Pattani United Liberation Organisation), which were not included in the current peace talks.

Srisompob said the participation of the military wing of BRN and Pulo in Mara Patani, if true, would be good and positive to the peace talks, adding that the inclusion of the “new groups” would make the peace process more stable and effective.

The inclusion of BRN’s military wing would be significant to the peace talks as the shadowy but well-armed and influential group in southern Thailand had been blamed for much of the violence in the deep south.

Its exclusion in the current Mara Patani-led negotiation with the Thai government had been cited as one of the prime reasons for the talks’ snail-pace progress and “stalemate”, especially regarding the implementation of a safety zone.

The addition of BRN’s military wing and other groups, according to the academician, would push the peace talks to enter its most important phase with both sides beginning discussion on the “core issues” of the conflict, regarding the group’s demand for southern Thailand’s autonomy.

Srisompob said the Thai side had been trying to evade discussing the issues, but the “inevitable had come”.

“The issues of southern Thai autonomy or decentralisation as demanded by the groups might be difficult for the Thai side (to discuss).”