n Thailand’s Muslim-dominated south, a Malaysian minister said on Thursday. “This (Thai) government is serious in addressing certain issues and we will work with them ... to bring about peace, stability and prosperity ... especially in the southern side of Thailand,” Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.
He was speaking ahead of a Feb. 12 meeting in Bangkok between Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Thailand’s army-appointed prime minister, Surayud Chulanont.
Tension between the neighbors over various issues has put on hold plans for joint development schemes, which were agreed in 2004 to provide more jobs and boost the border economy.
Mainly Muslim Malaysia is keen to help its neighbor stamp out the three-year-old insurgency, in which some 2,000 people have been killed, as it fears the violence could spill over into its territory.
Surayud said last week he supported building a security wall on part of the border with Malaysia to stop smuggling and illegal border crossings. He said the proposed 27-km (17-mile) wall would be built in the Betong district of Yala province, one of the three southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup last year, infuriated Kuala Lumpur in 2005 when he suggested building a security wall along the entire 500-km (310-mile) border with Malaysia to stop militant infiltration.
Malaysia has repeatedly denied assertions by Thai security agencies that militants are hiding on its territory.
Surayud said there was no need to consult with Kuala Lumpur on the wall plan, but Malaysia has said it will still study it.
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