Malaysian ruling party's victory bodes well for peace process: experts

Air Force commander ACM Prajin Jantong said yesterday the ongoing bilateral cooperation would create good understanding among members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, making it less likely that other nations would try to intervene in Thailand’s handling of the unrest.
General Ekkachai Srivilas, director of the Office of Peace and Governance at King Prajadhipok’s Institute, said the office would host discussions to gather information and opinions from the Thai public and other countries. He said that having Razak in power would help the dialogue, which he believed was the first positive step towards a peace process to have been taken in 10-20 years.
Chulalongkorn University political scientist Panithan Wattanayakorn said on Monday that the dialogue boosted Razak’s government’s popularity, as seen from the fact that it gained votes in northern Malaysia. As a result, Panithan said, Kuala Lumpur would likely continue to work on the Thai southern unrest, albeit discreetly to avoid creating the impression in Thailand that Malaysia was trying to intervene. He said Malaysians wanted the dialogue to succeed, which could put pressure on more groups to join the dialogue.
In Pattani’s Muang district, meanwhile, Tambon Ma-Yor municipal clerk Theeralak Suwannarat, 51, was shot dead by two men on a motorbike at 1.40pm yesterday while he was going into a restaurant with co-workers. Police believe it maybe a personal conflict as he was the sole target, but they hadn’t ruled out the possibility of a connection to the insurgency.
In related news, Pattani Governor Pramuk Lamun ordered a probe into Sunday’s attacks on local government offices on suspicion that they might be linked to politics, as some buildings, had been burned several times before.