Old Hippie Posted October 3, 2005 Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 This might have something to do with all the extra cops walking around...and the Nana meeting the other night... BREAKING NEWS: Thailand goes on full terror alert BANGKOK: -- The Thai prime minister said that he has put Thailand?s major tourist spots on full alert today, hinting of links between Muslim militants in the south of the kingdom and the terrorists who staged the latest Bali bombings. ?We have something (information) that causes us to be very cautious and call a full alert,? Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in response to a question about how Thailand was reacting to suicide bombs on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 26 people on Saturday. Except to say that plainclothes security officials would be dispatched into the tourist areas, Thaksin did not provide details of the alert or the information which prompted it. Key tourist spots in Thailand include the island of Phuket, the seaside resort of Pattaya and several sites in the capital. Thailand is battling its own militants in southern Thailand and Thaksin has so far characterised it as a domestic issue not tied to regional or international terrorism. More than 1,000 people have died since the separatist insurgency erupted early last year. But the prime minister changed his tune today. ?By (geography) it seems that they are far apart but actually along sea routes Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are close. These people (terrorists) are commuting and rotating around in the region,? he told reporters. ?These people have been moving among these countries for generations. They have close connections and links. Their linkages come from relatives, friends and they used to go the same schools.? He said the alert was ordered because of such links. Last week, a security adviser to Taksin said that Indonesian fighters are involved in the southern insurgency. ?I have warned the authorities concerned several times about Indonesian fighters sneaking into the region but they have ignored it,? Gen. Kitti Rattanachaya said, saying the militants infiltrated from the Indonesian province of Aceh. In another recent interview, a veteran Thai rebel leader warned that militants from Indonesia and Arab nations might join the Thai fight for a separate Muslim homeland if the government continued a crackdown against the southern Muslims that is provoking a new generation of fighters. Lukman Lima said that the 21-month-old insurgency is getting moral and financial support from abroad, especially from Islamic sympathisers in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. But he said weapons are being obtained locally and wielded by Thai Muslims. --Reuters, TV New Zealand, IOL 2005-10-03 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khwaimaisabai Posted October 3, 2005 Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 Old Hippie said:?By (geography) it seems that they are far apart but actually along sea routes Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are close. Hi oh, Sounds like somebody, finally, has taken a look at a map. The southern provinces are a lot closer to Aceh/Indonesia than they are to Bangkok - 300 kms? Less than 200 miles. Khwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 Or maybe Bali was bombed, before the high tourist season in Thailand? if nothing happens til' then, re-assuring comments will be based on "we have checked evrything, and publicly announced we did, before you came". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 Whats the going bribe rate for thai police to let someone suspicious pass by these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiamIAm Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 Great...The last thing I needed to hear before I go to Samui next week, I might get bombed... Ahhhhh well, at least I'd die happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 Okay, they're on terror alert. So what? What does than entail? How is the country any safer from the alert? Are they supposed to look at people with southern accented Thai carrying suspicious packages on busses or the sky train or going into bars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiamIAm Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 "So what? What does than entail? How is the country any safer from the alert?" Knowing Thailand, very little in anything at all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 Are they supposed to look at people with southern accented Thai carrying suspicious packages on busses or the sky train or going into bars? At least the cops/army won't have to worry about being pc ( plolitically correct) in choosing who they check Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 Might just be playing into the hands of the maniacs to say what the intelligence is and more importanly just what measures are to be taken in the alert. Seems anything mr T does in any area is met with only negative reactions by farangs who seem to think they have a better idea of how to run the country. I would have thought that a heightend awareness of possible threat would be seen as a sensible reaction. If anywhere is going to be attacked in LOS I think Pattaya would be number one on the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickfarang Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 Are we safer? Perhaps if the information is put to use. Some people might find it prudent to minimize exposure to the higher profile targets between now and the 3rd or 4th of November. As an example, if I had read this earlier today, I might have not take a visiting friend to Soi Cowboy, but to Saphan Taskin instead. It is good to see that the government did know of the international support the enemy enjoys, after all. I can't blame him for trying to manage the effect the problem is having on the country's reputation, and I give him high marks for bringing it up in time for people to change their plans. Maybe when scholars look back on this time from far in the future, they will learn some lessons about what it takes for people to live in harmony, but as long as there are some who place importance on telling others how to live their lives, there will be no rest. And sadly, this applies equally to both sides of the disagreement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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