Malaysia attempts to revive southern peace talks
Attempts are afoot by the Malaysian facilitator to revive the peace talks between the Thai government and the southern Muslim separatist groups led by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional.
Ahmad Zamzamin bin Hashim, former director of the External Intelligence Organisation of Malaysia and the facilitator of the peace talks is due to visit Chiang Mai on February 25 and will meet with the Thai media the following day to talk about the peace process for the past year and its future prospect.
On February 19, Ahmad Zamzamin met with members of the Thai media from the three southernmost provinces at Habib hotel in Kotabaru, Kelantan state of Malaysia for an interview.
During the interview, he confirmed that he had met with representatives of the BRN and they said that they were still committed to the peace talks process. He added that Malaysia would continue to help out to revive the peace talks.
Ahmad Zamzamin said that the removal of Hassan Taib as head of the BRN’s negotiating team was an internal affairs of the BRN. And he admitted that only recently that he learned that the BRN issued a statement announcing its pullout from the peace talks.
However, he noted that there must be a formal letter from the BRN stating its pullout from the peace process if the separatist organization really wanted to walk away. Also, he said that it would very improper if the BRN pulled out because it was one of the parties that signed the agreement committing to peace process.
Four rounds of talks have been held since the signing of the agreement on February 28, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur. Besides BRN, the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) was also represented in all the talks.
Had the peace talks been going on uninterrupted, Ahmad Zamzamin said he believed that the assailants who killed three Muslim brothers in Pattani on February 3 would have been identified.
Ahmad Zamzamin said that Malaysia was genuinely committed to helping Thailand to resolve the unrest problem because Malaysia felt that this was also a problem for Malaysia as the Malay Muslims in the Deep South often escaped into Malaysia to seek shelter when they were suppressed or intimidated by the Thai authorities.
The Malaysian facilitator is scheduled to visit Thailand during February 25-28 during which he will meet with the Thai Press in Chiang Mai and to give a talk on peace at Prince of Songkhla University’s Pattani campus.
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Caption : Ahmad Zamzamin bin Hashim, during the interview