KUALA LUMPUR, 1 November 2005 — None of 131 Thai Muslims taking refuge in Malaysia has chosen to return home in southern Thailand despite Bangkok’s promise to ensure their security, Malaysia’s deputy prime minister said yesterday. The group, in Malaysian custody since late August, is the largest to have fled to Malaysia from recent troubles in southern Thailand, where nearly 1,000 people have died in violence between Muslims and Thai security forces since January 2004.

“So far none has indicated so,” Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters when asked if any of the 131, including 24 women and 43 children, had indicated a willingness to go home. Relations between mainly Muslim Malaysia and its Buddhist neighbor have reached a low ebb over the issue, with Thailand pressing for the group’s return and Malaysia reluctant to be seen to be forcing fellow Muslims back into an area of conflict.

Najib gave no deadline for the Thais to leave but said Malaysia had “a few options” to deal with them and would decide when the time came. Malaysia said last month it would allow Thai military officials to interview the fleeing Muslims to establish how many of them posed a security risk to Thailand.

“The Thais will try to interview every single adult, hopefully they can convince the people to go back,” Najib said. “The crux of the matter is that the Thai government has given its assurance of their security if they return.” Officials of the United Nations’ refugee agency in Malaysia have interviewed the Thais to find out why they had left their homeland. But the agency has declined to comment.

Thailand’s far south was an independent sultanate called Pattani until Bangkok annexed it a century ago. Local people share cultural and religious ties with Malaysians over the border. A low-key guerrilla war for independence was fought in southern Thailand in the 1970s and 1980s.

Najib said the Malaysian government had not decided on a course of action to be taken if the Thai-Muslims, who are seeking refugee status, decide not to return home, but added that the government had “a few options” to consider. “We have a few options but we will decide when the time comes. So far, none of them has indicated (to go back to Thailand),” Najib was quoted as saying by the official Bernama agency.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s opposition parties won three out of the four contested parliamentary seats in a by-election held at the weekend, giving them sufficient seats to launch a no-confidence motion against the cabinet, election officials said yesterday. According to final vote counts from Sunday’s balloting held in Phichit, Satun, Singburi and Uthaithani, the Thai Rak Thai (TRT), or “Thais Love Thais,” party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won only in Singburi while the three opposition parties won one seat each in the remaining provinces, Election Commission officials confirmed.

Thailand’s three opposition parties include the Democrats, now with 97 seats, Chat Thai with 26 and Mahachon with three.