The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years

Malaysia’s relations with Thailand can be described as paradoxical. On the one hand, bilateral ties had been the least ‘problematic.’ On the other, the situation in the Southern Provinces had constrained relations and this could be seen during the administrations of Mahathir and Abdullah which becam...

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Main Authors:	Khadijah Md Khalid, Loh, Jason Seong Wei
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2017
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13031/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13031/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13031/1/19135-54274-1-SM.pdf

id	ukm-13031
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-130312019-05-26T21:57:42Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13031/ The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years Khadijah Md Khalid, Loh, Jason Seong Wei Malaysia’s relations with Thailand can be described as paradoxical. On the one hand, bilateral ties had been the least ‘problematic.’ On the other, the situation in the Southern Provinces had constrained relations and this could be seen during the administrations of Mahathir and Abdullah which became preoccupied with finding solutions. In ‘aggregating’ these two polar states together (‘superposition’), one could construe or amplify bilateral relations within a broader range of so-called overall ‘benign neglect’ that to a certain extent – characterised the approach of successive administrations of both countries. The objective of this paper as conditioned by archival sources as well as interviews seeks, therefore, to highlight the under-appreciated and overlooked role of the leadership factor in bilateral relations. This is in turn co-related to developments in political contestations and reconfigurations centred in Bangkok (“national politics”) which whilst promising little hope on the resolution for peace and stability in the Southern Provinces – contributes to the (unchanging) broader narrative. In short, directions in bilateral relations have been – to a critical extent – determined, influenced and constrained by the inability to achieve a breakthrough to the situation in the Southern Provinces. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2017 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13031/1/19135-54274-1-SM.pdf Khadijah Md Khalid, and Loh, Jason Seong Wei (2017) The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years. Jebat: Malaysian Journal of History, Politics and Strategic Studies, 44 (1). pp. 119-140. ISSN 2180-0251 http://ejournal.ukm.my/jebat/issue/view/971
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	Malaysia’s relations with Thailand can be described as paradoxical. On the one hand, bilateral ties had been the least ‘problematic.’ On the other, the situation in the Southern Provinces had constrained relations and this could be seen during the administrations of Mahathir and Abdullah which became preoccupied with finding solutions. In ‘aggregating’ these two polar states together (‘superposition’), one could construe or amplify bilateral relations within a broader range of so-called overall ‘benign neglect’ that to a certain extent – characterised the approach of successive administrations of both countries. The objective of this paper as conditioned by archival sources as well as interviews seeks, therefore, to highlight the under-appreciated and overlooked role of the leadership factor in bilateral relations. This is in turn co-related to developments in political contestations and reconfigurations centred in Bangkok (“national politics”) which whilst promising little hope on the resolution for peace and stability in the Southern Provinces – contributes to the (unchanging) broader narrative. In short, directions in bilateral relations have been – to a critical extent – determined, influenced and constrained by the inability to achieve a breakthrough to the situation in the Southern Provinces.
format	Article
author	Khadijah Md Khalid, Loh, Jason Seong Wei
spellingShingle	Khadijah Md Khalid, Loh, Jason Seong Wei The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years
author_facet	Khadijah Md Khalid, Loh, Jason Seong Wei
author_sort	Khadijah Md Khalid,
title	The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years
title_short	The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years
title_full	The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years
title_fullStr	The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years
title_full_unstemmed	The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years
title_sort	southern provinces in bilateral cooperation during the mahathir and abdullah years
publisher	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate	2017
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13031/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13031/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13031/1/19135-54274-1-SM.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:03:56Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:03:56Z
_version_	1777407032619433984

The Southern Provinces in bilateral cooperation during the Mahathir and Abdullah years

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