BANGKOK, Dec 30 - A Malaysian undergraduate and a school dropout are facing terrorism charges in Thailand after their alleged plan to "help their Muslim brothers fight Siamese soldiers in the deep south went awry.
Thai newspaper reports say that Muhammad Fadly bin Zainal of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Omar Hanif Shamsul Kamar were arrested in June this year while attempting to steal a motorcycle in Golok. During
interrogation, they told Thai officials that they were affected by two incidents in Tak Bai and Krue Se in 2004 - where many Muslims died from suffocation after being packed like sardines in military trucks and were
killed in an assault on a mosque.
The two men said that they wanted to join in the jihad fight against Thai military in Southern Thailand.
Fadly spoke to officials from the International Crisis Group from his prison cell in Narathiwat and said that he had received a month's training before traveling to Thailand in May this year. He said that he and Omar were recruited by a man in Kelantan and entered Thailand with a Malaysian ustaz "Muhammad'' and a South Asian man.
Thai police told the ICG that they believe that the two Malaysians had not established any links with the insurgents in South Thailand.
The Bangkok Post in a report today said that "this is not the first time that Malaysian nationals have been arrested in the South, but what is alarming is that this is the first time they have clearly linked their activity to jihad…Their arrests are considered proof that foreign Muslims radicals were being invited by members of the local jihadi networks to operate in the far South. Thai security agencies cannot afford to sit back and overlook this matter.''
Thailand has faced secessionist movements since it annexed the independent state of Patani in 1902. The religious and racial difference between the Malay Muslims and Buddhist majority in the country has created a sense of alienation in the south. Malay Muslims charge that they are treated as second class citizens while they have accused security officials of human rights abuses.
There was a resurgence of violence in 2004 largely as a result of policies by the Thaksin administration. Thai authorities have long insisted that the insurgency is homegrown. Indeed, there is little cogent evidence that Al Qaeda or Jemaah Islamiah is directing operations in the south.
Still, terrorism experts argue that the longer the problem in the south is allowed to fester the greater the chance of involvement of outside forces.
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Although still in small numbers, there have been increasing number of Malaysians getting involved in violence and terrorism in regional countries ie Philipines, Thailand, and Indonesia. If this trend is not countered and reversed, it's just a timebomb waiting to explode, at least in term of diplomatic ties with our neighbour countries.
Worse, it might get out of control and spark a widespread extreme Islamic movement, which not only poses threat to the stability in government, but surely to our economy as well.
I just hope that Muslims in this country know the difference between religion and extremism. Peace.