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Published on April 25, 2008

The Nation

Whenever a Thai prime minister visits Malaysia, he expects fanfare and fireworks to be associated with the trip. He wants to be seen as a maverick. It should not surprise anybody that even before Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej made his first official visit to our southern neighbour, reports surfaced that he would ask for the repatriation of five suspected secessionists currently held in Malaysia. Of course, given the political situation in Malaysia at the moment and the kind of dilemma Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is facing, that is unlikely to happen. After all, Thai leaders should have a better understanding of the sensitivities involved with this issue. Discreet diplomacy is badly needed. Thai leaders are naive to think that the only way for Malaysia to show true friendship and goodwill towards Thailand is to extradite suspected secessionists.

Believe it or not, Malaysia has cooperated in this area several times before in the interests of maintaining positive relations with Thailand. Some of those extradited later went missing. This has not only embarrassed the Malaysian government and concerned authorities but it has given ammunition to radical Muslim leaders within the United Malays National Organisation and the Islamic Party of Malaysia for their attempts to hamper such collaboration. So now the Malaysian authorities are extremely careful.

Under Prime Minister Badawi, Thai-Malaysian relations have been further consolidated despite all the spill-over effects from the violence in southern Thailand. But it is unfortunate that Badawi has been unable to establish the kind of rapport that his predecessor, Mahathir Mohammad, did with Thai leaders, especially former prime minister Chuan Leekpai. One obvious reason for this has been the frequent changes of Thai leaders in the past years. Nonetheless, both countries have surpassed the confidence-building level regarding the situation in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. They have agreed on programmes that will help to eradicate poverty and promote human security and human capital in the South. These policies are very sound and it will take some time for them to yield tangible results. This is considered a major preventive step that can help Thai policy-makers fight against underdevelopment and injustice - the root cause of the conflict and violence there.

Malaysia's current leaders realise that their country's security and prosperity is intrinsically linked to the southern region of Thailand. This allows both sides to expand their joint programmes to improve social conditions and education opportunities for Thai-Malays in the region.

In his luncheon speech yesterday, Samak called Malaysia a strategic partner because of its common destiny with Thailand and their shared border. He thanked Malaysia for the close cooperation and support both bilaterally and within in the Organisation of Islamic Conference.

For Malaysia to truly become a strategic partner, a lot more needs to be done. Both countries must also have shared perceptions and concerns over issues related to peace and security. During the bilateral talks, both sides also expressed an interest in cooperating on maritime security. Thailand has been anxious to join the maritime security patrol in the Malacca Straits. That would be a crucial step towards Thailand  taking a role in trilateral cooperation over the Straits. Thailand considers itself  a littoral state just like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Cooperation has impacted on the reduction of piracy on the high seas and smuggling operations. It is also effective in combating terrorism.

Beyond security issues, Thailand and Malaysia need to trade and invest more with one another. Total trade between Malaysia and Thailand grew from US$15.66 billion (Bt493.7 billion) in 2006 to $17.23 billion last year with Malaysian investment in Thailand surpassing the RM1 billion (Bt10 billion) mark. That is a pittance compared with other countries.

There are prejudices that hurt the investment climate. The newly formed Thai-Malaysian Chamber of Commerce and the reactivated Thai-Malaysia Friendship Association could be used as a forum to increase awareness and eradicate misunderstandings. Most importantly, ways must be found to get bureaucrats from both sides to learn and work together in order to understand the hearts and minds of people in their respective countries. Until that happens, Samak's idea of Malaysia being a strategic partner will remain a pipe dream.