ID :
64791
Mon, 06/08/2009 - 20:12
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/64791
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Malaysia, Thailand focus on fostering education cooperation to end insurgency
KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 (TNA) - Malaysia's prime minister agreed on Monday to promote educational cooperation with neighbouring Thailand in an attempt to tackle the continuing insurgency in Thailand's troubled South.
Visiting Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday held talks with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak on ways to end the continuing violence in Thailand's South and on additional bilateral cooperation, in particular in the energy and Halal food sectors.
Mr. Abhisit told journalists afterward that the Malaysian leader expressed satisfaction with the Thai government’s handling of the southern insurgency and is willing to provide educational cooperation to help resolve the underlying causes of the violence.
The Thai prime minister said he urged the Malaysian government to provide more occupational training and educational institutions for Thai Muslims so that they could earn a better living in the future.
Both men also agreed to visit Thai Muslim schools in the troubled region, Mr. Abhisit said.
Over 3,500 people have been killed in an insurgency which re-erupted in January 2004 in Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.
The talks were held at Mr. Najib’s offices in Putrajaya City.
Accompanied by several high-ranking officials including Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya and Army chief Gen. Anupong Paochinda, Mr. Abhisit, who became the first foreign government leader to visit Malaysia after Mr. Najib took office as prime minister on April 3, earlier in the day presided over the opening of a new Thai consular affairs building, in the same compound as the embassy.
Hailing the new consular office as a “window of the country” for better understanding and confidence regarding Thailand in the international community, Mr. Abhisit praised the consular personnel for adopting a more efficient information technology system, especially to provide better protection to Thais living there and for communications between the neighbouring countries.
Mr. Abhisit later met Thais living there and briefed them on the current political and economic problems which have affected his government’s budget for Fiscal 2010, starting October 1.
The Thai prime minister will have an audience with King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah and attend a dinner party to be hosted by Mr. Najib before returning home.
He is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok at 11.50pm.
Earlier on Monday nine soldiers were wounded in a bomb attack in the southern province of Narathiwat. They were among fourteen soldiers, patrolling a road in Ruso district, caught in a roadside remote-controlled bomb ambush, and fled on by an undetermined number of assailants, who fled the scene.
The wounded soldiers were taken to hospital, while their pick-up truck was completely destroyed. (TNA)
Visiting Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday held talks with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak on ways to end the continuing violence in Thailand's South and on additional bilateral cooperation, in particular in the energy and Halal food sectors.
Mr. Abhisit told journalists afterward that the Malaysian leader expressed satisfaction with the Thai government’s handling of the southern insurgency and is willing to provide educational cooperation to help resolve the underlying causes of the violence.
The Thai prime minister said he urged the Malaysian government to provide more occupational training and educational institutions for Thai Muslims so that they could earn a better living in the future.
Both men also agreed to visit Thai Muslim schools in the troubled region, Mr. Abhisit said.
Over 3,500 people have been killed in an insurgency which re-erupted in January 2004 in Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.
The talks were held at Mr. Najib’s offices in Putrajaya City.
Accompanied by several high-ranking officials including Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya and Army chief Gen. Anupong Paochinda, Mr. Abhisit, who became the first foreign government leader to visit Malaysia after Mr. Najib took office as prime minister on April 3, earlier in the day presided over the opening of a new Thai consular affairs building, in the same compound as the embassy.
Hailing the new consular office as a “window of the country” for better understanding and confidence regarding Thailand in the international community, Mr. Abhisit praised the consular personnel for adopting a more efficient information technology system, especially to provide better protection to Thais living there and for communications between the neighbouring countries.
Mr. Abhisit later met Thais living there and briefed them on the current political and economic problems which have affected his government’s budget for Fiscal 2010, starting October 1.
The Thai prime minister will have an audience with King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah and attend a dinner party to be hosted by Mr. Najib before returning home.
He is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok at 11.50pm.
Earlier on Monday nine soldiers were wounded in a bomb attack in the southern province of Narathiwat. They were among fourteen soldiers, patrolling a road in Ruso district, caught in a roadside remote-controlled bomb ambush, and fled on by an undetermined number of assailants, who fled the scene.
The wounded soldiers were taken to hospital, while their pick-up truck was completely destroyed. (TNA)
