Stronger people-to-people ties needed for Thailand and Indonesia

Speaking to a group of reporters after a meeting with Professor Din Syamsuddin, the chairman of the Muhammadiyah, Sawanit described ThaiIndonesian diplomatic ties as "excellent" but wanted to see stronger ties between civic organisations.

"Muhammadiyah is a good conduit. It promotes interfaith dialogue and a moderate form of Islam," Sawanit said.

With a membership of more than 35 million, Muhammadiyah is the second largest Muslim organisation in Indonesia after Nahdlatul Ulama.

Sawanit said Muhammadiyah, which has a network of private Islamic schools under its umbrella, could help strengthen Islamic schools in Thailand.

Muhammadiyah schools focused not only on religious and secular education but on professionalism and entrepreneurship as well, Sawanit said.

Prof Syamsuddin is scheduled to visit Pattani today to meet with the director of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Committee, Pranai Suwanarat, as well as religious leaders from the region where the ongoing insurgency has claimed more than 2,400 lives since January 2004.