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Thai Muslims Sign Petition For A Palestinian State
JAKARTA (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Two million Muslims in Thailand joined by Thai academics have signed a petition calling for the creation of a Palestinian state, political scientist Jaran Maluleem said on Tuesday.
The Thammasat University political scientist said Thai Muslims criticized Israel’s recent killing of Palestinians and urged the Thai government to support the establishment of a Palestinian state.
This is a major political development in Thailand that is organizing general elections on January 6th, 2001, to elect a new government. Muslim support to any of the major parties contesting in the elections is still in the balance, observers said.
Jaran Maluleem, a famous Thai lecturer on Islamic affairs and writer of a book entitled “The Coming of Islam to Thailand,” said millions of Muslims in the south prayed for the Palestinians and raised money to help them.
He said they were especially moved by television footage of a defenseless father and son who were shot while pleading for their lives. Twelve-year-old Muhammad al-Durra was savagely murdered in front of television cameras by Israeli bullets two months ago.
Jaran said up to two million Thai Muslims signed the petition. He added that Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand supported the petition and the creation of the Palestinian state.
The government should recognize the Palestinian state if it wants to expand markets in the Middle East, Jaran said.
"The Arab world has never acted in a unified move until the recent sympathy for their Palestinian friends," he said.
"Instead of looking back on Israel's considerable help to agricultural development in Thailand, the government should think of the many benefits to be gained from the Arab world."
Chaiwat Satha-anant, another Muslim political scientist, said long-standing conflicts between the Israelis and the Palestinians had become "sacred politics" with no end in sight.
It is ironic that Israel gained worldwide sympathy after the Holocaust and now acts like a bully against stone-throwing Palestinians, he said, recalling the biblical story of David and Goliath.
The academics spoke last Friday at a workshop for 400 teachers nationwide sponsored by the Office of the National Research Committee.
At a related forum yesterday, Senator Kraisak Choonhavan called for a change in the nation's political culture.
"It is time for Thailand and the world to speak out against Israel's massacre of the Palestinians and for Thai politicians to be more concerned with human rights violations," he said.
Citing Israeli aggression, the Rangoon junta's tactics against the Burmese population, and even the government's treatment of Pak Moon dam protesters, he said humanity was in danger if people did not feel anger about such unjust use of force.
Thai Muslims in the south of the country bordering Malaysia, have been waging their own long war of independence. The Muslims, mostly of Malay origin, have grouped themselves into several groups of which the most popular is the PULO, or Patani United Liberation Organization.
The PULO has toned down its operations since the capture and jailing of its leaders, operating from Kelantan, Malaysia.
There are more than five million Muslims across Thailand, most of them living on farming and fishing. Their livelihood was last week severely affected by flash floods that caused several millions of dollars damage.
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