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| Southeast Asia |
| Doctor linked to Jemaah Islamiyah to run for Thai legislature |
| 2007-10-30 |
| A Muslim doctor, once linked to the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, is expected to draw strong support from Thailand's three southern provinces when he runs for a lower house seat at the forthcoming election. Waemahadi Waedaoh, now a senator, will run for a lower house seat in Narathiwat, one of three predominantly Muslim provinces. Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani have also been at the centre of a bloody separatist conflict. In 2003, Waemahadi was charged with three other Muslims over plans to bomb western embassies and tourist locations in Thailand. He was acquitted by the criminal court for lack of evidence in June 2005, after spending two years in a Bangkok prison. He is now the head of the Sajjanuphab group, which will run under the Puea Pandin party banner. The senator told ‘The Bangkok Post’ that he decided to run to “offer an alternative for voters in the deep south.” The doctor also expressed confidence that, if elected, Puea Pandin would be able to improve security and stability in the three provinces, where more than 2,600 have been killed since January 2004. “We believe that they will be able to effectively deal with the problems in the deep south, especially the violence," he said. Waemahadi won Narathiwat’s senatorial race in April 2006, after receiving 97,514 ballots out of the 294,609 polled. The candidate who won the second senate seat, a Muslim woman, received only 30,096 votes. Soon after being elected, the former general practitioner told the media that ''I want to represent the people to fight for justice.” |
| Posted by:ryuge |