PM, Najib back use of technology for border patrol
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Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday discussed with her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak security issues involving the joint border on the sidelines of the ongoing Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Russia.
Thailand and Malaysia agreed to use technology in border patrolling to boost security, according to Yingluck. She said the issue would be discussed at the next meeting of the Thailand-Malaysia Joint Commission Meeting to be hosted by Malaysia in October.
The two leaders also discussed the latest disturbances in Thailand’s deep South where dozens of real and dummy bombs were planted and Malaysian flags were hoisted in several locations of the Muslim-majority region.
Yingluck said the two countries also agreed that the issue of dual-nationalities of many residents in Thailand’s Southern border provinces should be tackled urgently in order to help ease the problem.
She reaffirmed the strong bilateral ties between Thailand and Malaysia, despite attempts to cause misunderstanding between them. Najib said the two neighbouring countries would work together to tackle the problems.
The Malaysian prime minister also said that he was satisfied with the Thai government’s policies towards the deep South, focusing on a peaceful approach and the region’s development.
Yingluck and Najib are joining other leaders of the 21-member Apec at their annual meeting in Russia’s Pacific port city of Vladivostok.
The leaders of Thailand and Malaysia also discussed the falling price of rubber, a major export commodity for both countries. Yingluck called for concrete discussions to tackle the problem. She said the major producing countries – Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia – should join forces in adding value to their natural rubber in order to stabilise the rubber prices.
In her pre-recorded weekly programme “Yingluck Government Meets the People”, the prime minister said insurgency in the deep South was a long-term problem and that to tackle the problem, His Majesty the King’s suggested strategy of “understanding, access, and development” should be adopted.
Senator Worawit Baru from the Southern border province of Pattani said yesterday that the prime minister only floated ideas and her government had no clear measures to tackle the problem. He called for local residents to be allowed participation in dealing with the problem.
“To achieve peace, the local residents must be allowed true participation, and the policies should not come from the authorities only,” he said.
Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that a proposal by Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung for a special administrative zone in the Southern border region was a sensitive issue that should be discussed in Parliament, preferably at a closed-door meeting.
In related news, a roadside bomb went off in Tambon Ka Rubi of Pattani’s Kapor district yesterday at 11.55am while a six-soldier patrolling team on three motorbikes passed by, injuring two soldiers.
