Thais claim Malaysia is a safe haven for Deep South Insurgents

Murray Hunter


Thais claim Malaysia is a safe haven for Deep South Insurgents

Although there has been much talk of Thai insurgents using Malaysian border areas as a safe haven, there have been no official statements made on this

Murray Hunter
Jul 30, 2026





For a number of years, it has been long suspected that Thai Southern insurgents have used Malaysia along the border areas in the Narathiwat/Kelantan region.

Although there has been much talk of Thai insurgents using Malaysian border areas as a safe haven, there have been no official statements made on this.

There are beliefs that the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgents have used Malaysia as a safe haven for over two decades. Even the police Special Branch has come up empty on the issue. A major problem in identifying these insurgents is that most of them hold dual citizenship, which is illegal in Malaysia. This is concealed where parents apply for documents on both sides of the border without disclosing that they have applied for birth documents on the other side.

One of the major reasons this issue is rarely brought up is because discussion of the matter is potentially damaging to the good-neighbourly relationship that Malaysian and Thai authorities have developed over the years. Thai authorities don’t undertake hot-pursuits across the border frontier allowing insurgents to escape. In Sungai Kolok small IEDs have been triggered off from the Malaysian side of the border in Rantau Panjung, allowing culprits to escape detection by Thai security forces.

However, the Thai National Security Council secretary-general Chatchai Bangchuad has now publicly brought up this issue. The 4th Army chief of staff Chaiyapruek Dungprapt has been even more forthright after last Wednesday’s insurgency attack in the Rangae district in Narathiwat, which killed five paramilitary rangers. These latest attacks have created much shock to residents of the deep south.

The Royal Thai Army now wants to pursue such perpetrators of such violence across borders. However, the defence minister Lt Gen Adul Boonthamcharoen is playing down the matter diplomatically. Its clear that the Anutin Charnvirakul administration is much more concerned about keeping good relations with Malaysia.

Violence within the deep south, that consists of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat has increased over the last nine months for unknown reasons.

Malaysia has been facilitating peace talks between the Thai government and the umbrella organization MARA Patani, which is supposed to be representing the rebels. After all the years in negotiations, a full terms-of-reference(TOR) for any really constructive peace talks has not yet been achieved.

The authorities in Thailand see the insurgents as criminals which they want to bring to justice. Successive governments have been reluctant to label the insurgent groups in the Deep South as “terrorists”, even though many of their violent acts, including roadside bombings targeting officials, civilians and public property, qualify as acts of terrorism.

This is still great division about how the insurgency within the deep south should be handled. Regular changes of the Thai government over the last few years has not assisted. On the insurgent’s side, on the ground there has been a generational change in the activists involved. Their agendas may not match those of the current BRN leadership. The 4th Army directly involved with the security in the deep south has also changed approach many times. It’s now questionable how much MARA Patani actually represents those involved on the ground.

These issues greatly hinders any progress in discussions. Another issue, is that the Patani-Muslims themselves have a completely different set of ideas, and are not part of any talks.

After two decades of active conflict, more than 7,800 people, mostly civilians have died in the insurgency. The Thai authorities are looking towards Malaysia to assist more in this matter, as the insurgency just continues unabated.

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Kelantanese won't help 'coz of KakiNang. Federal government won't as well because of fears of offending Kelantanese sensitivities