Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont confirmed again Wednesday his revelations that Thai restaurants in Malaysia finance separatists movement that is responsible for daily violence in the southern provinces.

"I will open up all details this afternoon [Wednesday]," Surayud told reporters.

Surayud claimed on Tuesday that Thai tom yam kung restaurants in Malaysia, along the border and in Kuala Lumpur, have funded insurgency activities in the trouble south.

Malaysia's Deputy Security Minister Fu Ah Kiow described the allegation as "baseless," the New Straits Times reported.

"It is very imaginative of him. It is absolutely baseless. These restaurants are owned by Malaysians and Thais," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Another junior security minister, Johari Baharom, demanded Thailand show proof of the allegation.

"If this is true, we will investigate. But they must come to us with information first," he was quoted as saying.

Husam Musa, state public administration, finance and economic planning committee chairman in the northeastern Kelantan state that borders Thailand, rebuked the allegations.

"I think the stall operators, who are mainly Thai Muslims, would only be sending back money to their families, not for the purpose alleged by Surayud," he said.

Thai restaurants owners also criticised Surayud.

"We are working to earn an honest living, not wrecking the lives of others," one was quoted as saying.

Residents in Thailand's southernmost provinces are mostly ethnic Malay and Muslim, sharing more culturally with their neighbours across the border than with the rest of Buddhist Thailand.

The Nation/Agence France Presse