DPM meets Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs

MALAYSIA, January 9 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister Police Captain Chalerm Yubamrung, who is leading a team of Thai security authorities to visit neighbouring Malaysia this week, met the Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs on Wednesday afternoon, during which he asked Malaysia to import more unskilled Thai workers. At the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Police Captain Chalerm also asked Malaysia to exchange Islamic teachers with Thailand to help solve violence in the insurgency-plagued southern border Thai region, as Islam teaching has been distorted at some Islamic schools in the region. Earlier in the day, the visiting Thai deputy premier met concerned Thai authorities in Kuala Lumpur, including Police General Thawee Sodsong, Secretary-General of the Southern Border provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC), Pravit Kiengpol, Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Labour's Department of Employment, the governors of five southernmost Thai provinces and the president of the Association of the Thai Tom Yam Kung Restaurants in Malaysia, to prepare his meeting with the Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs. The Thai deputy premier discussed with the parties concerned issues on illegal Thai migrant workers in Malaysia and the updated violent situation in the Thai restive South from the governors, who reported that about 60 per cent of violent incidents in the troubled Thai deep South had resulted from personal conflicts. Malaysia has, meanwhile, allowed Thai workers to be only chefs who are legally required to pay a monthly tax of up to 24,000 baht each, resulting in several Thai workers having remained illegal in the neighbouring country subsequently. Accompanied by his entourage, the Thai deputy premier, who is visiting Malaysia from January 8-10, is scheduled to visit the Association of the Thai Tom Yam Kung Restaurants, which gathers Thai restaurateurs in Malaysia, on Wednesday evening and he will meet Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and a deputy prime minister on Thursday. (TNA)