Malaysia, Thailand open bridge on restive border
BUKIT BUNGA, Malaysia (Reuters) - Thailand and Malaysia opened a bridge over their restive border on Friday, a new artery for commerce between relatively prosperous Malaysia and poor Muslim communities on the other side.
Muslims have been waging an insurgency against security forces on the Thai side of the border since January 2004, a conflict that has killed more than 2,600 people. Thailand and Malaysia say local economic development holds the key to peace.
"We are certain that the growth and prosperity in the border areas, and especially for the people in southern provinces of Thailand, will benefit not only Thailand but also Malaysia," Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.
Accompanied by Thai premier Surayud Chulanont, he spoke before the pair signed a plaque on the "Friendship Bridge".
More than 10,000 ethnic Malays crowded around the Malaysian and Thai ends of the bridge, the women wearing head-scarves and elderly men in colorful sarongs under an overcast sky.
"I'm sure business in the surrounding area will pick up," said Ibrahim Mat, 62, a shop-keeper in a light-blue sarong from Bukit Bunga, a town on the Malaysian side.
The 120-metre (400-ft) bridge links Thailand's Narathiwat province and Malaysia's Kelantan state and will carry just two lanes of traffic.
It is the second such link over the Golak river and will be able to carry more heavy vehicles than the first, which is 20-km (12 miles) to the west and is heavily congested.
"This is good. I have never gone across to the Malaysian side," said Thai Muslim woman Yah Md Zin, a 45-year-old rubber-tapper who was among the throng of people who took advantage of a bilateral agreement to allow visa-free foot and motorcycle traffic across the bridge for the day.
"I have always wanted to go across and now I can."
BUILDING BRIDGES
The bridge opening coincides with a $34 billion Malaysian plan to develop its eastern states, including the border state of Kelantan. Announced in October and known as the East Coast Economic Region, it includes 227 projects over the next 12 years.
"It is hoped that this bridge will enhance transportation and economic activity in the border areas as well as the East Coast Economic Region," Thai premier Surayud added in his speech.
The Muslims of Narathiwat and surrounding Thai provinces are ethnic Malays, a minority in Thailand but the majority in Malaysia. They speak the same language and share the same religion as their kin living in peace over the border.
On the Thai side, there are almost daily gun and bomb attacks. Insurgents have usually aimed their attacks, including beheadings, on people associated with the Thai state, such as security forces, judges and even teachers.
Since July, security forces have launched almost daily raids on suspected insurgent hideouts in villages and towns and have detained dozens of people without charge.
"Malaysia stands ready to give its full support and cooperation to the government of Thailand in its endeavor to find comprehensive solutions to the problems there and establish permanent peace in the area," Abdullah said.
But bilateral relations have been strained at times over the insurgency.
Bangkok has in the past accused its neighbor of harboring insurgents, who have waged a sporadic separatist rebellion ever since Thailand annexed the region a century ago, when the Muslim south was a sultanate.
(Writing by Mark Bendeich; Editing by David Fogarty)
