BANGKOK, 11 Feb – Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s maiden two-day official visit to Thailand starting Thursday helped renew the resolve in finding solutions to the restive south Thailand and in troubled Myanmar.
The decades-long conflict in southern Thailand, which borders Malaysia, and the crisis in Myanmar since the Feb 1, 2021 coup that hindered peace in the region were the key subject matter of discussions during Anwar’s visit to the northern neighbour.
Anwar and his Thai counterpart Prayuth Chan o-cha spent a significant amount of time discussing the issue of Southern Thailand during their bilateral meeting at the Government House on Thursday.
Acknowledging the conflict is Thailand’s internal issue, Anwar said Malaysia as ‘good neighbour and family” is ready to do whatever is required to facilitate the peace process in southern Thailand.
Anwar who is personally known to many in the south pledged “to do whatever is required” in attaining a peaceful solution and reiterated that Malaysia ‘will not condone any sort of violence to resolve any conflict’.
Prayuth on his part showed his willingness and commitment to help establish peace in the region.
Malaysia is the facilitator for the peace dialogue process in ending the decades-old conflict in Southern Thailand with former chief of defence force Zulkifli Zainal Abidin appointed as the new Malaysian chief facilitator effective Jan 1, 2023.
When he spoke to Muslim community and leaders after performing Friday prayers at the Islamic Centre of Thailand in Bangkok on Friday, Anwar also reiterated Malaysia’s commitment in playing an important role in the peace talks.
Vice President of the Foundation of Islamic Centre of Thailand Prof Dr Jaran Maluleem said Anwar is one of the most farsighted Muslim thinkers.
“For Muslims in Thailand, no one would not know Anwar especially young and contemporary Muslims and those working in Muslim organisations,” he said during an event at the Islamic Centre of Thailand.
On conflict in Myanmar, Anwar said ASEAN should ‘carve’ Myanmar out for now and move on.
“I don’t think the Myanmar issue should frustrate our (ASEAN) moves. It would be ideal if we have a strong consensus in sending a strong message to the Myanmar regime.
“You (Myanmar) have every right to have your own domestic policies and priorities, but no country in these times should ever continue with discriminatory policies, marginalisation of their people, intimidating, or worse, perpetrating violence against its own people,” he said when delivering his keynote address on the “Future of ASEAN” on Friday.
Feb 1, 2023 marked two years since the military, led by army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, seized control of Myanmar and the country has been in turmoil since then and a subsequent crackdown on dissent has sparked fighting across swathes of the country while seriously affecting the economy.
During his bilateral meeting with Prayuth, he also urged ASEAN to take coherent and concerted efforts as a regional body in solving the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.
“I appealed to the prime minister (Prayuth) although Thailand has its own issues with the borders. We face the same problems.
“There are 200,000 Rohingya refugees (in Malaysia) and there’s very little we can do except continue our so-called constructive engagement with the Myanmar junta.
`Meanwhile, Anwar also emphasized on Malaysia cooperation with Thailand in food security, information technology, transportation, digital economy and energy.
During his visit, he also witnessed the exchange of four memoranda of understanding (MoU) between Malaysian industry players and Thai agencies and companies to explore potential cooperation in the fields of energy and digital economy.
Malaysian-Thai Chamber of Commerce (MTCC) chairman Dr Hwee Khim Boo hoped Anwar’s visit would help woo Thai businesses to invest in Malaysia.
“The prime minister has shown commitment in collaborating rather than competing.
“Sectors that Malaysia and Thailand can explore are in digital economy and green energy such as part of the Bio-Circular-Green Economy,” she said.
For Anwar, his maiden visit to Thailand was a great success like how he summed up in his Facebook page post.
