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| Southeast Asia |
| Thailand mulls security wall on Malaysia border |
| 2007-02-06 |
| Thailand's army-appointed prime minister said on Sunday he supported building a security wall along part of the border with Malaysia to stop smuggling and illegal border crossings. Surayud Chulanont, on a tour of Thailand's Muslim-dominated far south where 2,000 people have been killed in a three-year-old separatist insurgency, avoided any mention of the violence as a reason for building the wall. "The wall will make it more convenient for us to check border areas," Surayud said of the proposed 27-km (17-mile) wall in the Betong district of the southern province of Yala, one of the three southern provinces bordering Malaysia. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a bloodless Sept. 19 coup, 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 run the proposal by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who will visit Thailand for annual bilateral talks on Feb. 11-13. "If we don't build it, it could disadvantage us because we will face problems with border crossings and smuggling," he told reporters after meeting with Betong's mayor, whose district is considered a hot spot for militant activity. Surayud's weekend visit is part of a peace drive in the Malay-speaking region, an independent sultanate until the Buddhist-dominated Bangkok government annexed it a century ago. But the attacks have continued, including an ice cream vendor who was shot dead and beheaded on Thursday in the neighbouring province of Pattani. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #19 LH has an 'A' in semantics, donchaknow. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-02-06 21:37 |
| #18 Walls are underrated. We should build more. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-02-06 17:47 |
| #17 I think they are building a fence on the Canadian side as well, liberalhawk. And, the Minutemen have been quietly watching our northern border almost as long as they've been watching to the south. NPR did an interesting little story on them quite some time ago, long before they started fussing about the Minutemen in the south. It's just that, as you say, people don't talk about it. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-06 17:37 |
| #16 liberalhawk who the F cares. Thailand has the right idea and Bush hasn't got a clue. Also at the Canadian border we don't have tens of thousands of illegals flooding in. Muslims find it easy to hide in these masses. And so what if there are other reasons Americans want to keep job stealing welfare draining prison filling illegal Mexicans out. 1/3 of our Federal prison's population is made up of illegals. Do we have to mention the drugs smuggled in? The majority of meth smuggled into Minnesota comes from Mexico. Deal with it my friend, Thailand has the right idea. Also odds are the first dirty bomb blown up in our nation will be smuggled over the Mexican border. That being said even the Minute Men are getting ready to aid on the northern boarder. Which is good news because heaven knows Border Buddy Bushie isn't going to take care of us there. But then again I'm just thinking about protecting my family and nation. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-02-06 17:09 |
| #15 FG Examples of things people really want for other reasons, but have been justified based on the WOT. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-02-06 16:30 |
| #14 "Terrorists have been caught on the Mexican side of the border, liberalhawk," yeah, and terrorists have been caught in Toronto. I dont see folks arguing for a fence on the Canadian border, and thats just as passable for somebody coming from Iran as the Mexican border. Hell its probably easier, since INS (or whatever theyre called these days) is so much lighter, and there arent these minutemen types, etc. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-02-06 16:29 |
| #13 huh? Fire Station in NYC? Health Care? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-06 16:25 |
| #12 Terrorists have been caught on the Mexican side of the border, liberalhawk, and we saw a report with photos here a few years ago of Iranians having crossed the border, dropping their (if I recall correctly) Republican Guard uniforms in the desert, no doubt having changed into the native garb of jeans and a t-shirt. That nothing has happened yet is either luck, quietly good work by those fighting the homefront side of the war, or lack of orders from headquarters. Absence of evidence isn't the same as evidence of absence, after all. And the statement was everyone who's anyone is doing it! which was meant to be lighthearted. I guess I should've put a smiley face on it. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-06 16:25 |
| #11 "so you deny it would have ANY benefits in the WOT? Who's pretending? And just who's posing" Do you deny that spending more on public health would have benefits the WOT? Keeping open fire stations in NYC? Glad youve decided to play that game. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-02-06 16:20 |
| #10 "Try waiting in a hospital emergency room with extreme pain or a life threatening condition while the doctors look after illegal aliens who come in with a case of the sniffles because they know they won't have to pay." actually ive been in ERs where there are plenty of folks who come for that reason - almost all good American born citizens (largely folks whose ancestors came here before 1808, Id judge) Fortunately theres triage. However thank you for making the case for universal health coverage. Anyway, provision of services and all SHOULD be part of the debate on the fence. Fine. But thats not why the Israeli or Indian fences are going up, and I doubt its really why the Thai fence is going up. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-02-06 16:19 |
| #9 "Try waiting in a hospital emergency room with extreme pain or a life threatening condition while the doctors look after illegal aliens who come in with a case of the sniffles because they know they won't have to pay." actually ive been in ERs where there are plenty of folks who come for that reason - almost all good American born citizens (largely folks whose ancestors came here before 1808, Id judge) Fortunately theres triage. However thank you for making the case for universal health coverage. Anyway, provision of services and all SHOULD be part of the debate on the fence. Fine. But thats not why the Israeli or Indian fences are going up, and I doubt its really why the Thai fence is going up. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-02-06 16:19 |
| #8 "so you deny it would have ANY benefits in the WOT? Who's pretending?" It might have some side benefits, sure. But the statement "everyone is building them except us" implies a more direct parallel. Israel and India (and probably Thailand) have actually had armed terrorist walking across the open border. We MIGHT have that happen in the future. While that is one reason FOR building a fence, it does NOT put us in the same situation as the countries that ARE building fences. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-02-06 16:16 |
| #7 LH, one man's "immigration", especially if it is illegal and uncontrolled equals another man's invasion. Just because they're not carrying guns and shooting when they come across, at least not most of them, doesn't mean it's not an invasion. Where do you live? Minnesota? Try a border state for a while. The southern border, that is. Try sending your kid to a school where half the kids don't speak English. Try waiting in a hospital emergency room with extreme pain or a life threatening condition while the doctors look after illegal aliens who come in with a case of the sniffles because they know they won't have to pay. And how do you know that everybody coming across that border is a friendly, hard working family man who only wants to do the work Americans won't do? Procopius2k is right. There has been a slow erosion of our soveriegnty, our quality of life and, yes, our security. Ask any cop at a funeral for one of his colleagues when the shooter was here illegally. It happens here in my neck of the woods. It makes the news when a cop gets killed but a lot of people are victimized in various ways then you never hear about. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-02-06 15:35 |
| #6 so you deny it would have ANY benefits in the WOT? Who's pretending? And just who's posing? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-06 15:29 |
| #5 "those coming across the southern border, the number could be greater than the losses on 9/11?" Now you sound like one of those lefties saying 9/11 wasnt that big a deal, compare it to the crime numbers. Crime is part of the human condition, the first business of the national govt is to stop military and quasi-military attacks on our soil, which is what 9-11 was. In any case, the fences being discussed wrt India, and of course Israel are about defense against terrorists, not to control immigration. Thailand denies its fence is about terror, but I dont believe that. So that explains the "except us". You can want a fence on the Mexican border anyway, for other reasons, but dont be pretend its for the same reasons as the antiterror fences. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-02-06 13:08 |
| #4 Not just the terrors LH. You think if you count up the number of Americans killed, maimed, robbed, raped, etc in the last 7 years by those coming across the southern border, the number could be greater than the losses on 9/11? It's easy to ignore the slow erosion of life, property, and liberty taken by that opening than the quick smack across the face dealt that one day. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-02-06 09:53 |
| #3 yah, probably cause our terrs flew in, or came in through normal crossings at the Canadian border. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-02-06 09:38 |
| #2 Except us. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-02-06 09:17 |
| #1 Security walls -- everyone who's anyone is doing it! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-06 06:53 |