by The Nation Authorities are speculating that a group of 65 Rohingya and five other Burmese men may have been trafficked from Bangladesh where an estimated million people are sheltering as refugees. The Thai captain, of the boat that washed up on a southern Thai island on tuesday, has already admitted that he was paid to take them across the Andaman Sea to Malaysia
PHOTOS: The Nation Southern insurgents have detonated a home-made bomb in a roadside ambush of a patrol unit of rangers in Yala’s Bannang Sata district.
Over 4,000 villagers, including more than 300 monks from several temples in southern provinces and border provinces of Malaysia, have attended a bathing ritual for the two monks slain by gunmen who stormed Wat Rattananuparb in Narathiwat on Friday night. Read more about the raid HERE
Malaysia’s King has abdicated the throne in a first for the country ending weeks of speculation about his future. In recent months the Monarch has taken medical leave and married a Russian former beauty queen, although the marriage has never been confirmed by Malaysian palace officials.
“Only in the South has our public forum on the Life Partnership Bill heard opposition.” Muslim leaders in Thailand’s South have rejected the proposed Life Partnership Bill, which would allow LGBT couples to marry. The Nation reports that, if the bill becomes law, the religious leaders say they will not perform marriage rituals for LGBT couples.
PHOTO: Benar News Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to expand the scope of bilateral cooperation to contain an insurgency along their shared border after changing peace negotiators. The two premiers have promised to help solve the conflict. Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has assured his visiting Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad that the peace dialogue in the deep South will continue and that Malaysia will continue playing the role of facilitator
“This isn’t just a marriage, but may be child abuse.” Defenders of Thailand’s children are calling for legal actions and amendments to laws to tackle the increasing number of “premature” marriages throughout the country.
The Nation is reporting that suspected Muslim insurgent has been killed during a gunfight with Army troops from the Pattani Taskforce in the Kapor district on Wednesday morning. Troops from the Pattani Taskforce surrounded a house in Moo 3 village in Tambon Karubee after they learned that the suspect, Sulaiman Muhammad, was hiding there
The Education Ministry has defused a dress-code row at a school in Pattani province by giving the green light for Muslim students there to wear the hijab and long trousers in line with their religious beliefs. Starting today, Muslim students at the Anuban Pattani School can wear hijab and long trousers. “It’s just that they also must respect school rules by wearing only the colours allowed by the school
PHOTO: The Muslim Attorney Centre chief Adilan Ali-ishok (courtesy of Facebook page Wartini) A legal aid foundation in Yala is planning to appeal a court verdict on behalf of a blind woman who was sentenced on Thursday to one-and-a- half years in prison for lese majeste. The Muslim Attorney Centre, in the Muslim-majority southern border province, was asked by the family of Nurhayati Masoh, a 23 year old Yala resident with visual impairment, to help her file an appeal, foundation chief Adilan Ali-ishok said yesterday. He said the convicted woman’s family wanted the Centre to appeal the court verdict, especially as the imprisonment was not suspended.