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Abdullah commended for standing firm on Malaysia’s right to raise the Tak Bai massacre at the Vientiane ASEAN Summit and calls for a Ministerial Statement by Abdullah in Parliament on his discussions with Thaksin on the South Thailand unrest and violence after the Summit
Media statement by Lim Kit Siang (Petaling Jaya, Sunday): The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is to be commended for standing firm on Malaysia’s right to raise the Tak Bai massacre and the continuing unrest and violence resulting in the deaths of Muslims and Buddhists in South Thailand at the Vientiane ASEAN Summit, undeterred by the threat by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to walk out of the annual ASEAN Summit if the issue is raised. As most eloquently expounded by the former Thai Foreign Minister, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan at the Workshop of ASEAN Parliamentarians on the Myanmar Issue in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, the time and age for absolute sovereignty for nations to claim sovereign rights without assuming sovereign responsibilities, especially on the universal and indivisible principle of human rights, has ended, and Surin gave a long list of examples in the history of ASEAN where ASEAN countries had raised issues affecting other member countries on matters which had a spillover effect on their neighbours in the region.
It is most unfortunate that at a time when the Thai government is promoting the candidature of its Foreign Minister, Surakiart Sathirathai to succeed Kofi Annan as United Nations Secretary-General, the Thai Prime Minister should have acted in such a unstatesmanlike, immature and even childish manner, which could only undermine international support for the Thai candidature.
Abdullah should be fully frank with Thaksin at the Vientiane ASEAN Summit about the concerns of the Malaysian Parliament which in a cross-party solidarity had deplored the Tak Bai massacre and the continuing unrest and violence in South Thailand adversely affecting both Muslims and Buddhists, and impressed on him that such concern is not an aberration of Malaysian public policy.
This is because Thaksin had told the Thai press that he had spoken to Abdullah by telephone after the motion by the Malaysian Parliament last Tuesday and that Abdullah had assured him that the government had already reprimanded the Opposition for the motion.
This is completely untrue, and I do not believe that Abdullah could have made such a statement to Thaksin. The Thai Prime Minister should publicly withdraw such a false and baseless claim.
In view of the seriousness of the issue and the stand taken by the Malaysian Parliament last Tuesday, Abdullah should make a Ministerial Statement in Parliament on his discussions with Thaksin on the South Thailand unrest and violence after the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane.
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