January 24, 2005

Malaysian royal link `could help bring peace'

 WASSANA NANUAM

 A Thai Rak Thai election candidate whose daughter married the crown prince of Malaysia's Kelantan state says he will use his connection to seek cooperation from the opposition Parti Islam Se Malaysia (PAS) of Malaysia in solving the problems in the deep South.

 Wairoj Pipitpakdee's daughter Kangsadan wed Crown Prince Muhammad Faris Petra, the eldest son of the sultan of Kelantan, in a grand ceremony on Oct 15 last year.

 Mr Wairoj, 63, is a former Democrat MP who has defected to Thai Rak Thai. He is running in constituency 1 of Pattani, one of the three southern border provinces plagued by Muslim insurgents.

 ``The PAS has a majority in the local government of Kelantan. They know who the insurgents are and what they are doing, but they do not think about helping Thailand since nobody has asked them to,'' Mr Wairoj said.

 ``I will use my connection with Kelantan to coordinate with the party for help.

 ``Although the sultan of Kelantan is not involved in politics, I will seek his advice on what to do. He used to say Thailand should be just in its treatment of southern people, otherwise there would be unrest.''

 Mr Wairoj believes the violence in the South derived from ``external support'' in the form of money from the Middle East and weapons and instructors from neighbouring countries.

 ``Our security units were not aware of their movement. Once they became aware, the movement had been formed with financial support, weapons and manpower,'' he said.

 His Democrat opponent, Anwar Salae, 35, said the problems in the South became far worse after Thai Rak Thai came to power four years ago and then dissolved the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) and Civilian-Police-Military Command 43.

 The people were now living in fear, with daily shootings and bombings.

 ``The Democrat party will revive the SBPAC and CPM 43. They may be reorganised to better suit the new situation,'' he said.

 Mr Anwar said local administrations should have a greater role in solving the problem and the authorities must stop indiscriminate arrests.