Thailand appointed an independent commission on Tuesday to investigate last week's shootout at a southern mosque that left more than 30 Muslim militants dead and relations with neighboring Malaysia severely bruised. As a top-ranking Kuala Lumpur delegation met Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to stress good relations after last Wednesday's violence, Bangkok said the seven-member commission, made up mostly of Muslim judges, lawyers and academics, would question police, security officials and witnesses to the clash. "Even though this incident was unavoidable, the government wants related facts to be established by people knowledgeable in gathering information, religion, and foreign relations," spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told reporters. The general in charge has defended using rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weapons to end the siege, saying he feared his soldiers would be attacked by an angry mob. However, both local Muslims and those across the nearby border in Malaysia have expressed outrage.
| Of course, they'd have done that regardless of what the army did, to include doing nothing... |
Mystery still surrounds the machete-wielding attackers, who launched a series of dawn raids on army and police posts across Thailand's restive and predominantly Muslim deep south, home to a separatist rebellion in the 1970s and 1980s. The government says they were drug-crazed youths manipulated by local holy men criminals. Analysts say the attacks look more like a revival of a centuries-old Muslim insurgency with a dream of a distinct Islamic state between Thailand and Malaysia. However, police have started to zero in on several slain militants whose bodies remained unclaimed, leading investigators to conclude they might have been foreign fighters. "So far there are three unknown bodies," a police investigator, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. "We suspect that these three bodies are non-Thais."
| Malays and Indons, I'd guess... |
In response to the Pattani violence, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi offered temporary refuge to Thais fleeing the violence, prompting behind-the-scenes diplomatic anger from Bangkok and Tuesday's hastily arranged meeting. Both countries are founder members of the Association of South East Asian Nations, a regional grouping whose watchword is non-interference in one another's affairs. After Thaksin met Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, Thai officials glossed over differences of opinion. "Malaysia made it clear that it will leave to Thailand to solve its own problems and Thailand can expect consistent moral support from Malaysia," government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told reporters. "Our bilateral relations are very good."
| Besides which, Malaysia's only a step or two away from similar problems. Remember the Islamists lost big in the elections... |
A Malaysian official said Kuala Lumpur had no intention to meddle and pledged to help track down those behind the attacks. "We will not support and give protection to religious extremists militants and other criminals," said the official, who declined to be identified. Thaksin, who will head to the three troubled southernmost provinces on Thursday for a three day visit, said earlier the violence could undermine economic growth targets in 2004. "We will do our best. But if it is something beyond our control, then there's not much we could do. There are still many months to go," he told reporters. |