Following criticism of Muslim students 'profiling', Prayut defends the police
According to the Prime Minister of Thailand, the information is needed to create a national database. About 90 per cent of Thais are Buddhists, although Muslims are the majority in three southern provinces bordering Malaysia. The request for information follows a series of explosions in Bangkok in August.
Bangkok (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha (pictured) has defended the Police Special Branch Bureau for seeking information about minority Muslim students from universities around the country.
Thai Muslims, who are a minority in the country, have harshly criticised the move, judged discriminatory and unconstitutional. Prayuth argues that it is instead necessary to build a national security database.
About 90 per cent of Thais are Buddhists, although Muslims are the majority in three southern provinces bordering Malaysia. In this region, ethnic Malay armed Islamic groups launched an insurrection in 2004 that has left nearly 7,000 people dead, mostly civilians.
Quoting police sources, international media report that the request for information on Muslims is linked to the attacks that took place last August 2 in the capital Bangkok.
Four people were injured in the explosion of six small bombs and six incendiary devices. Three have been arrested and another 11 are still being sought by the authorities. All suspects are southern Malay Muslims.
In recent days, Angkhana Neelapaijit, a former member of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT), posted online a letter the Royal Thai Police (RTP) sent to an unspecified university.
The latter was required to provide details on numbers, places of origin, affiliations and other information about Muslim-organised student groups. "This is interference for personal rights and discrimination based on belief," Angkhana said adding that freedom of religion and the right to privacy are guaranteed by the Constitution.
In an official statement, the police state that similar letters have been sent to many Thai institutions, as part of a routine update to the existing intelligence data. However, some universities with a large number of Muslim students have found the letter disturbing.
Speaking on the issue yesterday, Prayut said: "The police has already pointed out that this is for the creation of a data base on intelligence. No rights have been breached. We cannot manage anything if we don’t have data".
"One should never worry about his or her personal information being collected if they do not intend to do anything illegal," he added.
.png)
31/01/2023 16:50
20/01/2016 15:52
