Thai PM, NSC chief visit Malaysia

BANGKOK, February 27 (TNA) - Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Lieutenant General Paradorn Pattanathabutr are visiting neighbouring Malaysia to mainly discuss cooperation in the violence-plagued Thai far South. Lieutenant General Paradorn told journalists on Wednesday morning prior to his departure to Malaysia for the discussion, one day before Premier Yingluck’s visit to Kuala Lumpur, that Malaysia has agreed to arrange for a negotiation between the Thai government and insurgent leaders active in the southernmost Thai region. Lieutenant General Paradorn said that Malaysia has announced clearly to cooperate, as Kuala Lumpur does not want any conflict in adjoining countries and the Malaysian Prime Minister has suggested that conflicts should not happen, not only in Thailand but also in other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as the ASEAN Community (AC) is scheduled to be established by 2015, which has automatically put pressures on insurgents. The NSC chief acknowledged, however, that Malaysia will only facilitate the negotiation and will not be a mediator, as the issue is considered Thailand's internal affair, but prior to the negotiation, Thailand and Malaysia need to share the same goal first, and that Thailand wants to talk with every group and is waiting to see whether it is possible. The NSC chief pointed out that there are about 4-5 insurgent groups in the Thai deep South and authorities concerned have some names of the insurgent leaders whom he expects such talks with in the near future. According to the NSC secretary-general, Premier Yingluck, who is scheduled to fly to Malaysia on February 28, will discuss and follow up general cooperation on security, economic, human resource development and transnational crime issues; while Thai and Malaysian security authorities will then focus on details of solutions to violence in the southern border Thai region, based on their steady security cooperation. (TNA)