Wednesday, June 13, 2007

SRP MP opposes Thailand accusations

11 June 2007
By Khim Sarang
Radio Free Asia

Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

One SRP MP supported the reaction of Prime Minister Hun Sen opposing the accusations made against Cambodian Muslims for their (alleged) involvements with JI terrorists in southern Thailand.

In a statement dated 11 June, MP Ahmed Yahya said that Cambodian Muslims are traveling across Thailand to look for work in Malaysia only. He said that the majority of them returned back to Cambodia by plane, whereas a number of others travel by land across Thailand without proper documents.

Recently, General Sothornchai, the commander of Thailand’s special border unit, reported that statistics of the Thai ministry of foreign affairs show that, since 2005, almost 20,000 Cambodian Muslims legally crossed the border into Thailand at Sakeo border gate, and they continued on to southern Thailand. Among those, only 10% returned back to Cambodia.

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