Thailand and Malaysia is considering plans to build a wall
along their shared outskirt, a day prior to Malaysian Leader Najib Razak is set
to meet his counterpart in Bangkok.
Along the 640km Thai-Malay border human trafficking and the
smuggling of drugs and weapons are among the transnational crimes that have
thrived.
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| Malaysian Prime Minister on the left and Thai Prime Minister on the right |
Mr. Najib is to meet Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha
on an official visit that will concentrate on security participation and
investment.
The wall is on the plan for the meeting, said a Thai foreign
ministry official.
Foreign ministry spokesman Chinawut Setawat said at a
regional meeting in Vientiane, "It will be on the agenda during Najib's
visit, but it will not be the biggest item on the agenda."
"It is still at the memorandum of understanding
phase," said Colonel Yutthanam Petchmuang, a spokesman for Thailand's
Internal Security Operations Command.
Mr. Najib's visit takes after three deadly bomb attacks in
southern Thailand over the previous month, including a wave of bombs in tourist
towns in August that Thai police have connected to Muslim separatists working
in the country's south.
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Smuggling of weapons, drugs and illegal oil has been a site
in Thai-Malay border. After taking power in a May 2014 coup, Thailand's junta
promised a "zero tolerance" policy of human trafficking and launched
a nationwide crackdown on vice and crime.
In January 2004, a shadowy separatist uprising by ethnic
Malays reemerged in Thailand, after simmering for decades. From that point
forward, 6,500 individuals have been slaughtered, says Deep South Watch, a
group that monitors the violence.
Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and
Narathiwat were once part of a free Malay Muslim sultanate until they were
attached by Thailand in 1909.
Two issues specifically have spurred the interest of
Malaysia and Thailand in building a border wall, said Srisompop Jitpiromsri,
director of Deep South Watch.
"The first is to stop the flow of illegal goods,
whether it is petrol, drugs or human trafficking."
"The second reason is that insurgents operating in
Thailand regularly cross the border and use Malaysia as a safety base."
However it remains unclear how far the wall will reduce
crime.
"There are still many logistical issues to address
before building the wall," Mr. Srisompop said. "It's a tremendously
long area."
