CEBU, Philippines, April 24 (UPI) -- Southeast Asian nations are concerned that southern Thai Muslim militants might shift from nationalism to a more international jihadi orientation, threatening regional security.
The Philippine Star Saturday quoted Ronan Gunaratna, the Singapore-based International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, as telling participants at an international counter-terrorism conference in Cebu, "Our prediction is Thailand will become like Mindanao in the next five years unless the Thai government takes decisive steps to control and contain the local insurgency."
Thai Foreign Ministry counselor Somwang Khruasuwan disagreed with Gunaratna's assessment. He said the Thai Muslim insurgents were not radical or inclined to an international perspective and that the situation in Thailand's southern provinces "cannot be compared anywhere."
"We believe that the Thai Muslims are peaceful and do not agree with the method of violence," Somwang said.
He said Thai Muslims "are not comparable to Muslims in the Middle East. We are not very radical but we are very moderate. The government has been trying its best to address the problem using hard and soft approaches as we try to win the hearts and minds of the Muslims. It is an insurgency occurring in Thailand and we consider it as something quite domestic and we think we could come to a peaceful solution in the near future."
