His Majesty the King grants an audience to visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, centre, and Premier Surayud Chulanont, left, at Chitralada Royal Villa yesterday.

Thailand and Malaysia yesterday called for an end to the attacks against civilians and innocent people in the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces.

In a joint statement, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and visiting Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said it was "imperative that violent attacks on civilians and innocent people be stopped".

Abdullah welcomed Thailand's "handling of the situation by means of peace and reconciliation" in the South.

"We are determined to do something about improving the situation in [southern] Thailand. We are not wasting time talking, scratching the surface. We do believe that we have to engage the people somehow," premier Abdullah said.

He said Malaysia will do its best to assist in developing the restive region, adding that it would be "something for them to look forward to".

The Malaysian premier dismissed suggestions that Islam was the underlying cause of the violence in the deep South.

In their joint statement, the two leaders said: "Cooperation to encourage social and education empowerment through greater people-to-people contact should be promoted in order to help alleviate the problem, including visits by Thai students to Malaysia."

Speaking to the press after their two-hour meeting, Surayud said the foreign ministries of the two countries have been instructed to coordinate more closely on the situation in the South and to report back to their respective leaders.

"The two countries agreed that peace, security and stability in the South is relevant and important to the northern states of Malaysia and vice versa," Surayud said.

"A secure environment is crucial for economic development and the prosperity of this area in the two countries," he added.

On the sticky issue of dual nationality, Abdullah said biometrics would be used to monitor the movement of people and added that residents holding nationality of both Thailand and Malaysia will have to choose between being Thai or Malay.

He said both countries had agreed to present the number of people suspected of having dual citizenship.

"When we discover [their identity], we would like them to decide which one they will choose," he said.

Abdullah pointed out that northern Malaysia has lots of ethnic groups, including some Thais, and numerous Buddhist temples and that "Malaysia never forced them to assimilate".

The Malay community, including successive separatist movements in the Malay-speaking south, have said the Thai state policy of assimilation comes at the expense of their cultural identity.

Sopaporn Kurz

The Nation