Malaysia rages over Muslim killings

Malaysia rages over Muslim killings
By Anil Netto

PENANG, Malaysia - Malaysian groups have reacted with outrage to the grisly deaths of more than 80 Muslim protesters in neighboring southern Thailand, with Kuala Lumpur expressing concern over the escalating violence and non-governmental organizations calling for sanctions against the country.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has offered help to control the situation and prevent further clashes. "We hope that the situation there does not worsen and spread to other provinces and that it will be contained quickly," he was quoted as saying by Malaysia's state news agency during a tour of the northern state of Kedah, which borders Thailand.

Abdullah was reported to have contacted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to inform him of the importance of resolving the issue through consultations with community leaders in southern Thailand, so as to obtain their support to end the violence.

Most of the protest victims died from suffocation while several broke their necks when 1,300 people were stuffed into vehicles for at least six hours, after police and troops used water cannons, gunfire and tear gas to break up a demonstration on Monday outside a police station in the Muslim-dominated Narathiwat province. The province shares its southern border with Malaysia's northeast state of Kelantan, which is ruled by the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).

Monday's violence, which comes in the midst of the Muslim fasting month Ramadan, was the worst violence in southern Thailand since April 28, when Thai troops stormed the ancient Krue Se mosque in Pattani, killing more than 100 alleged Muslim insurgents who had taken refuge there.

Thaksin blamed the suffocation deaths on Muslim protesters being exhausted due to the two-week-old fast they were observing. Then he pointed a finger at drugs - saying the arrested protesters were in a "drug-induced state".

Abdullah, a devout Muslim, said late on Thursday that the deaths should never have happened.

"If there is anything that we can do to help, we will," said Abdullah, who is also chairman of the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC). "If not, we wish that the Thai government will be able to manage this crisis so that it will not spread and cause further violence.

"We want the Thai government to take firm action," Abdullah added.

That request for "firm action" prompted a sharp response from PAS, which said Abdullah's statement was confusing and ambiguous and implied that he agreed with the actions of the Thai security forces.

"If he meant that the Thai government had to take even stronger action and sacrifice more lives, that would be regrettable," Kamarudin Jaafar, a PAS central committee member, told Inter Press Service.

Since Monday's violence, four Muslim non-governmental organizations have issued a joint statement calling on the OIC and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to meet and lodge their protest against the Thai government. They also went a step further, calling for sanctions against Thailand.

"The Thai government is not being sincere in handling the problem, and Islamic nations worldwide must stop trade relations with it until they succeed in resolving this issue peacefully and bringing to book those responsible for this cruelty," said a joint statement issued by the Malay Initiatives Network (Teras), the Secretariat for Asian Ulamas (Shura), the Institute for Community Progress and Development (Impak) and the Institute for the Research and Development of Syariah (Isra).

Bangkok, however, is still holding to the view that the military remained blameless. "It was a tragic incident, but we would like to point out that the military did their best to exercise self-restraint and did not use force during the demonstrations," Sihasak Phuangketkeow, a foreign ministry spokesman, told Inter Press Service.

"It is not the government's policy to treat people inhumanely," he added in reference to the deaths in custody.

The PAS youth wing, meanwhile, said it deeply regretted what happened in southern Thailand. "We will launch a special fund to help families of the victims of indiscriminate shootings by Thai troops," said youth wing leader Salahudin Ayub. The wing's Kelantan section has handed a protest memorandum to a Thai consulate representative in the state capital, Kota Baru.

"We appeal to Thailand to act fairly towards the minority Malay community in south Thailand, and consultations must be carried out swiftly so that no group feels oppressed," said Zulkafli Yaacob, the Kelantan PAS youth wing leader.

The Malay-Muslims account for 2.3 million people of Thailand's 63 million population, the majority of whom are Buddhists.

Militants among this Muslim minority waged separatist struggles in the 1970s to reclaim three of Thailand's southern provinces that are home to a majority of Muslims. Over a century ago, these provinces belonged to the kingdom of Pattani, which was annexed in 1902 by Siam, as Thailand was then known.

"The unhappiness of Thailand's three southern, predominantly Muslim, Malay-speaking provinces has international implications - for the West in its self-proclaimed 'war on terror'; for ASEAN, in which Muslims are the largest religious group; and for Malays in Malaysia, who inevitably sympathize with their brethren across the border," wrote columnist Philip Bowring in the International Herald Tribune.

Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said Malaysia and ASEAN should send fact-finding missions to investigate the escalating violence and bloodshed in southern Thailand, in particular the deaths of the protestors in Narathiwat.

"Thaksin should welcome such fact-finding missions by Malaysia and ASEAN and should not regard them as intrusions or interference with Thai domestic affairs," he said.

Lim added that the continuing turmoil and bloodshed in southern Thailand was bound to have an adverse impact on Malaysia, as Thailand's closest neighbor, and on the international credibility of ASEAN. As violence continued on Thursday, one Malaysian was killed and two were injured when a bomb ripped through two bars in the town of Sungai Kolok on the Thai-Malaysian border.

Lim's colleague, Ronnie Liu, who is international secretary of the Democratic Action Party, said that "Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra must seriously take steps to initiate a peace accord with the Thai Muslims in southern Thailand to prevent further violence and upheavals in his country."

The incident on Monday showed both excessive use of force and a blatant disregard of human lives, observed Zaid Kamarudin, the president of Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), a Muslim missionary group promoting reforms. "There should be a channel of communication and discussion between the protagonists," he told IPS. "If it needs mediation, let there be mediation."

In its coverage of the killings in southern Thailand, Berita Harian, a major Malay-language daily, carried a banner front-page headline with the words: "World condemns Thailand: Excessive force against Muslims." The paper's lead story was a stinging condemnation of the human-rights abuses, supported by sharp criticism from around the world.

The secretary of the PAS's Ulama (Islamic religious leaders) wing, Badrulzzaman Yusuf, said that the tragic deaths showed that the Thai authorities had no respect for the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims practice fasting.

"Those who were gathered outside the police station were only trying to ensure the safety of their friends who had been detained and we are confident they had no other motive," he said.

To cram 1,300 people into a few trucks was inhuman, Badrulzzaman said, and lowered their dignity to below that accorded to animals. However, he urged the victims' families to be patient and act according to the law.

Mustapa Yaacob, a former secretary of the ruling United Malays National Organization's international bureau also spoke out against the security forces' actions. "They [Thai security forces] should be sensitive to the feelings of the Muslims in Malaysia, especially in this neighboring area, who have family connections with many of the Thais," he said. "We don't like to interfere in other country's affairs, but as Muslim neighbors, we want to call for an investigation to ensure justice is done."

" Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has asked that Thai troops take "firm action" to curb the violence; others are calling for sanctions against the country for its "excessive" use of force and blatant disregard for human life."

Since when did the religion of peace come to know anything about respect for human life?

Most of the protest victims died from suffocation while several broke their necks when 1,300 people were stuffed into vehicles for at least six hours, after police and troops used water cannons, gunfire and tear gas to break up a demonstration on Monday outside a police station in the Muslim-dominated Narathiwat province.

I never thought we would need lessons in practical politics from Thailand.

So9

Never heard the muslims protest when Indonesia killed hundred of Christian chinese...

So let me see if I have any pity on this bunch of jihadis... Let me think... Not even a speck of pity!

The islamic extremists in Thailand have been on a rampage of murder for several years now, and when the Thais finally get to defending themselves, the Moslems are outraged.

Islam has a long history of killing and persecuting inoffensive Buddhists and other non-Moslems, but Moslems are basically cowards and bullies, and cry like babies when someone reacts.

Somehow, I don't seem as sympathetic to the Moslems as I might be if I were in another galaxy.

Buy Thai!

Good for Thailand! The Muslims are still murderously upset that they were kicked out of Austria in the late 1700's. These heathen bastards know no mercy for anyone who does not believe in the writings of Mohammed, The Pig-Humping & Child Molesting Prophet. If the Muslims would behave themselves and stop trying to take over the world I'd say live & let live. But they never will stop their war to plunge the world into the darkness of Sharia.

Kill them all. We will have to do it sooner or later or surrender to them, put our women in bags, wear dirty nightshirts, give up indoor plumbing (no fooling), and let some evil pervert calling himself 'Mullah' rule over us.

No.

We fought the Nazi and Japanese menace and we can fight this one, too.

If it means killing MILLIONS of them, then so be it. They routinely state that they won't hesitate to kill millions of us if they get the chance.

People: it's us or them, whether you like it or not.

The Malay-Muslims account for 2.3 million people of Thailand's 63 million population, the majority of whom are Buddhists

I see he problem right off. They have 2.3 million too many Muslims in their country.

You've hit the main point of this whole matter; until the non-Muslim world begins to understand the nature and message of Islam, that they believe they are superior and the non-Muslim world is (or will be)to be subservient (or better yet convert), this is a struggle that will continue until either party is destroyed. I for one will not allow the Judeo-Christian Western Civilization disappear to these barbarians...I say get ready to rock..and teach your children and grandchildren the same. This crap has been going on for 1,400 years and will continue until they're destroyed. We have the ability and the means, but do we have the perseverance and backbone for a long, long, protracted war..it depends on what you value and whether you're willing to fight for it...I say fight, now and forever. Once again, Christ be with us in our hours (decades?) of darkness.

The article does not mention that 440 people have died in the south of Thailand this year - murdered by Muslim extremists. Many of those were civil servants, teachers, and other nonmilitary persons.

The west should definitely watch how Prime Minister Thaksin handles the violence there. Not that we should emulate this particular incident - he's quite pissed about that, in fact. But if anyone will do what has to be done - close mosques and madrassas, etc., - it will be him.

The following is clearly a threat from Malaysia which is the only source talking about the violence spreading to other provinces.
"We hope that the situation there does not worsen and spread to other provinces and that it will be contained quickly," he was quoted as saying by Malaysia's state news agency during a tour of the northern... "

One result of this situation is that a poll reported on Channel 11 here in Thailand shows 63% of Thai's hoping Bush wins Tuesdays election.

Malaysia has hidden and provided opportunity for training for the terrorists. Weapons and explosives stolen earlier are thought to be in Malaysia. Now they want the Muslim Minority to rule the Buddhist Majority. The MSM cannot even show a sense of balance by reporting the murders these terrorits are even today commiting. The killing of these Muslims was neither wise nor right but it was understandable.

Want to avoid the measures of the riot police?

Don't riot.

People are so freaking dumb it just staggers the imagination sometimes.

Only bush agrees with the Muslims

Do you suppose that he (unlike the some slack-jawed mouth-breathing idiots here) understand that we are not at war with Islam, but with a sect of Islam.

"for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom the gentler gamester is the soonest winner."

Malaysia has hidden and provided opportunity for training for the terrorists.

Ah! That would explain way in the last election the Islamist party got their asses handed to them.

Knowing Malaysia and the Islamic foothold in Thailand as I do, small neutron bombs at the local mosques are the simplest practical solution. The Wahabbists have firm foundations everywhere and they will overtake everything Islamic in Southeast Asia. Each mosque in Malaysia and Thailand is a nest of terrorists and their progeny.

To cram 1,300 people into a few trucks was inhuman, Badrulzzaman said, and lowered their dignity to below that accorded to animals.

If you don't want to be treated like you are lower than animals, then stop acting like you are lower than animals.

On second thought, just do the world a favor and die.

PAS is strongest in the northern province and sharia remains an issue there. Malaysia stand to gain by the "liberation" of the Thai provences of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.

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