PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, 29 October 2005 — Malaysia will not forcibly repatriate a high-profile group of displaced Thai Muslims, its foreign minister said yesterday, adding that the migrants will have to decide on their own if they want to return home.
“We cannot force and pack the 131 people... There are certain international norms that we have to abide when people ask for refuge in our country,” Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.
The group crossed the border into Malaysia in August, saying they feared for their lives in the region, which is in the grip of an insurgency. The diplomatic tussle over their fate has severely strained relations between the neighbors.
On Thursday, the two countries failed to break a deadlock over the fate of the 131 men, women and children, with Malaysia insisting Thai authorities must convince the group it is safe for them to return.
“The important thing is for the 131 to feel confident about going back,” Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said after talks with his Thai counterpart Chidchai Vanasathidya.
Syed Hamid said Thailand had given assurances of the migrants’ safety if they returned home, but that they themselves had to be convinced of that. “That is why we have allowed the Thais to come and talk to them and to convince them,” he said. The minister said Malaysia would continue to cooperate with Thailand to resolve the issue. “We have from the beginning always cooperated. The only thing is how do we resolve the question of these people going back. It is not us stopping them from going back. It is up to them to make that decision,” he said.
The Thai government has vowed new offensive tactics to crack down on insurgents. “The government will maintain its policies to solve the problems in the south, but will focus on more offensive measures,” Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters Thursday.
Thaksin’s heavy-handed approach has created anger and resentment among the Muslims in the south, experts warned. “There is evidence that suggests that some of (the) Thai (government’s) practices have actually spurred local unhappiness and anger, which have been effectively utilized by insurgents in their campaign for public support at least in those Muslim areas,” said Kurt Campbell of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
