Thai-Malaysian bilateral security relations from 1957 to 2006

Abstract

Security relations between Thailand and Malaysia have been remarkably cooperative. The two countries have never gone to war against each other. And they have cooperated against communist rebellions in southern Thailand, and to a lesser extent against other threats to stability in the border region, including southern Thai Malay secessionist movements. This seems at odds with conventional realist understandings of international relations, which highlight how states necessarily engage in a struggle for power, making tension and conflict inevitable, especially between neighbouring countries. Also, with inevitable tensions caused by a large ethnic Malay community in southern Thailand, it defies the expectations of experts on border regions that porous and culturally blurred borders are a potent source of interstate conflict. How is this apparent anomaly to be explained? This thesis argues that borderland issues, internal decision-making process and structures, along with reciprocal exchanges, constitute major factors influencing the cordial relations between the two countries. Both nations cooperated closely against Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), and regarded it as their common enemy, After the dissolution of the CPM, Malaysia did not want unrest among ethnic Malays on the Thai side in case this spilled over to Malaysia. Thailand, for its part, recognised the CPM as a threat in its conflict with communism, and recognised the need for good relations with Malaysia to ensure Muslim separatists were not provided with cross border support. Elaborate networks of agreements were established to assist with problem solving. And both countries recognised the importance of reciprocity in pursuing their own interests. Security relations were not always smooth, and indeed were constantly threatened by unrest in southern Thailand. Suspicious of Thai sincerity, Malaysia did maintain contacts and support with southern Thai separatist groups prior to the CPM's surrender. Thailand, for its part, sometimes turned a blind eye to CPM activities as counter-weight to these Malaysian actions. As the threat from the CPM, and Muslim separatists, receded, security cooperation improved. New highs were reached in the 1990s when Thailand extradited the 'deviationist' Al-Arqam leader, Ashaari, to Malaysia, and Malaysia handed over key separatist leaders to Thailand. But as conflict in southern Thailand again deteriorated in the early 2000s, so again did security cooperation - exacerbated by the combative personality of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Over three decades Thai-Malaysian security cooperation has often been tested. Nonetheless a common perception that both had an interest in a peaceful southern Thailand, assisted by a network of bilateral structures to facilitate security cooperation, ensured that both sides kept the bigger picture in mind. Show more