INSURRECTIONISTS IN SIAM WANT TO JOIN MALAYA

Grey River Argus, 8 September 1948, Page 5

INSURRECTIONISTS IN SIAM WANT TO JOIN MALAYA

(Rec. 11.0) LONDON, Sept. 7 A Reuter correspondent at Bangkok states: A combined force of Siamese police and Marines clashed with a bana of 120 insurgents in the Naradhivas district, near the Siam-i Malaya border, during the past week-end, according to a delayed police report. The insurgents are described as Muslim Malays. They have been: “Isolated by Government forces, who are now preparing measures to have them destroyed as a force.” The correspondent says: Muslim Malays, who predominate in Siam’s southern provinces, have for some time, been agitating to secede from Siam, and to join the Federation c* Malaya. Widespread banditry, and a worsening of unrest in Siam’s southern provinces bordering Malaya are reported to-day by the Siamese Defence Minister, Lieutenant-General Luang Chart Nakrob. He claimed that Siamese bandit gangs and Communist gangs, who have entered the country from Malaya, were “oppressing the rich, opposing Government authority, and terrorising the population.” The military and the police had made sufficient preparations to ensure control of the situation, he added.