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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association. Vol 40. No. 7. April 13 1977

Ghazali and the Guerillas

Ghazali and the Guerillas.

While many estimated the communist guerilla force in Peninsula Malaya to be around the range of 3,000, the Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Ghazali Shaffie put it as around the range of only three hundred odd.

This estimate of only 300 would only make a mockery of the frantic movements among the Thai, Malaysian, Singapore and Indonesian regimes to co-ordinate their counter guerilla drives at the highest level.

In early March. Hussein Onn leading a team of top officials including the Foreign Minister went to Bangkok for a three day visit to officially sign a Malaysia-Thailand Border Pact which replaces the one abrogated by the former Thai civilian government. Under the agreement, Malaysia and Thai troops can cross each other's border in so-called "hot pursuit" of guerillas. It also provides unlimited joint military operations.

This agreement was immediately condemned by the patriotic underground forces in Thailand, according to a report of the BBC summary of World Broadcast 7th March. The underground radio, the Voice of Patriotic Thailand, further accused the Malaysian and Thai troops of massacring Thai farmers in the January joint military operation in South Thailand. The radio said, "This agreement permits reactionary Malaysian policemen and soldiers to enter Thai territory, encroach on Thai sovereignty and kill Thai people as they please." It also said that the agreement went against the spirit of the Betong people's struggle last year which removed the Malaysian soldiers stationed on Thai soil.

At another level, the Indonesian military authorities are planning joint military exercises with their Malaysian counter parts. In addition, the Indonesian Defence and Security Minister, General Penggabeen in a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur to attend the 8th Malaysian-Indonesian general border committee meeting on March 9th, revealed his plans to station Indonesian military observers at the Malaysian-Thai border area.

The General put it bluntly that any disturbance in these countries would inspire and lend moral support to the Indonesian rebels. By this statement, it thus made clear that such so-called counter-guerilla military movements are not in response to external aggression by socialist states, a myth which the ASEAN countries tried to build up, but rather a reaction to indigenous movement.

Whatever ideological differences the ASEAN regimes have with their respective indigenous movements, it should be settled and resolved within the framework of each country. Any form of intervention by another country can only be described as interference which is contrary to the principle of self-determination of the people.

Ref: Straits Times, March, 1977.

Summary of the World Broadcast, March, 1977.