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Call for a All-party Parliamentary Caucus on South Thailand as the continuing unrest, violence and bloodshed has overspilling effect on peace and security of Malaysia   Media Conference statement (2) by Lim Kit Siang (Parliament House, Monday): 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. I fully agree and endorse the statement by the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar that “there is no such thing as absolute non-interference”.  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 on Saturday, 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. At the end of the Workshop on ASEAN Parliamentarians on Myanmar yesterday, the participants were given a briefing on the situation in South Thailand by two Thai Senators, Senator Kraisak Choonhaven, Chairman of the Thai Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and Senator Jon Ungphakorn, Secretary of the Thai Senate Committee on Social Development and Human Security.  We were informed that three Senate Committees, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, the Senate Special Committee on the Violence in Southern Thailand and the Senate Committee on Social Development and Human Security,  had conducted a joint fact-finding trip to South Thailand to gather information from all parties involved in the Tak Bai massacre on 25th October, 2004, resulting in at least 85 people killed.  We were also informed of a Preliminary Report of the Thai Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on the Tak Bai massacre, which among other things came out with the following findings:  The Committee found evidence indicating that the authority used excessive violence and lethal force against the protestors, who had not done anything to present an imminent and deadly threat to the authority or anyone else. It appeared to the Committee that police and security forces violated the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. On the 78 deaths because of suffocation during transportation of the protestors from the Tak Bai district, “the Committee found evidence indicating that the authority were clearly culpable for negligence by not providing a sufficient number of vehicles for transportation, and not providing appropriate and timely medical care for those injured”. The Report said: “Most importantly, protestors testified to the Committee that security forces had acted in a manner which violated humanitarian standards and that there were violent abuses of human rights during the transportation to the Army Camp.” Among the Committee’s findings are:  The Government cannot deny responsibility for this incident.  There must be an investigation of those responsible for this incident, along the line of command right up to the highest level, whether or not the deaths, injuries and even the loss of valuables and property of the protestors was deliberate or accidental or due to negligence. The Government must be aware of the standing of Thailand in the international community….It must be shown that there is justice in Thailand, and that there is no impunity for anyone who violates human rights. The Government must show its readiness to be a good member of the international community ready to preserve human rights standards by inviting Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Torture, Extrajudicial Killings and Freedom of Expression to investigate this incident. Malaysian Parliament had already set an important precedent in a cross-party solidarity deploring  the Tak Bai massacre and the continuing unrest and violence in South Thailand adversely affecting both Muslims and Buddhists.  The time has come for the establishment of  an all-party Parliamentary Caucus on South Thailand as the continuing unrest, violence and bloodshed has overspilling effect on peace and security of Malaysia, which should be concern to all MPs, regardless of party affiliation, whether in government or opposition. (29/11/2004) * Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, MP for Ipoh Timur & DAP Central Policy and Strategic Planning Commission Chairman