Thailand eyes to work with Myanmar, Malaysia on Rohingya-related issues

BANGKOK, May 8 (TNA) - Thailand’s Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha says he is finding a regional platform in which he will seek cooperation from neighbouring Myanmar and Malaysia on solutions to Rohingya-related problems in order to prevent their negative impacts on the ASEAN Community (AC), scheduled to be formed by the end of this year. Prime Minister General Prayut aired the intention on Friday, noting that he will also use the platform to explain his government's measures to address the problems and Thailand's status as only a transit point of illegal cross-border trafficking of Rohingya Muslims although some Thai officials and nationals have reportedly involved in the illegal act and he has ordered stern legal action against the Thai people if they are found guilty. According to the prime minister, many countries have praised Thailand’s solutions on the problems and his government will continue, with full efforts, accommodating illegal migrants pending the conclusion of legal procedures against them. The prime minister stressed that foreign countries are interested in the Rohingya-related problems, which must be addressed at the original source through more stringent preventive measures, not at any transit point, like Thailand, toward a final destination in a third country in order to prevent their expanded negative impacts after the AC is formed. The prime minister said that he has ordered concerned government officials to solve the long-standing problems in an integratedly-systematic manner. Meanwhile, the prime minister opined that all member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have moved forward together, side by side, for regional development, pointing out that Thailand has made 70-90 per cent progress in national preparations for the upcoming AC establishment, while all other ASEAN member countries have expressed their confidence in and satisfaction with his government's solutions to national problems. (TNA)