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BANGKOK, (AFP) Since last month's devastating bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, Thailand has been at pains to insist no terrorists are on its soil and that the country is completely safe - a claim that has failed to convince.

The government has now threatened to take legal action over a Wall Street Journal report last week that said the Bali attack was planned in Thailand's predominantly Muslim south.

The report cited FBI information that Riduan Isamuddin, al-Qaeda's main man in Southeast Asia better known as Hambali, had slipped across from Malaysia to meet with Arab and Southeast Asian militants.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra rejected the report as "absurd" while his spokesman insisted Osama bin Laden's terror network had not set foot in Thailand nor that the kingdom faced threat of attack.

"The government wants to prevent panic among the public," said veteran political analyst Panitan Wattanayagorn from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

"This is a half truth - we are not part of the tension between the terrorists and the West, but of course some targets could be in Thailand."

Western embassies were dismayed by the government's response and its reluctance to reveal what intelligence and security agencies are doing to minimise the risk of attack.

"The government's defence system, which consists of repeating that nothing will happen here, is increasingly fragile. If it maintains this line of defence, it will be less and less credible," said one Bangkok-based diplomat.

Several of the men responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks travelled through Thailand, as did the main suspect in the Bali attack, Indonesian militant Amrozi, he noted.

Analysts say Thailand is a haven in Southeast Asia for terrorists looking for a convenient place to plan an attack, and home to many "soft" targets now believed to be in al-Qaeda's sights.

An extensive arms trafficking network, expert passport forgers, porous borders, a liberal immigration policy, modern transport and telecommunications and widespread corruption make it easily accessible to clandestine networks. The southern islands near the Malaysian border, including Phuket, are a one-stop-shop for rebels including Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers to buy everything from second-hand attack rifles to the C-4 explosive used in the Bali attack.

"Thailand is an open country, we receive and welcome all nationalities," said Panitan. "Some individuals on most-wanted lists or in international terrorist groups may be coming and passing through Thailand."

Apart from the lawless southern provinces where a Muslim separatist movement has rumbled for several decades, suspicion has also fallen on Middle-Eastern quarters in Bangkok and the tourist town of Pattaya.

"Many Thais from the Muslim south were studying in Pakistani madrassas (religious schools) before the US strike in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda and one day they could make trouble," the diplomat said.

With its huge influx of Western tourists and thousands of nightspots, Thailand seems an obvious next target after the Bali attacks exposed terrorism's new front in Southeast Asia.

An avalanche of travel warnings from foreign governments have urged visitors to be vigilant, a message that has irritated the government.

The resort island of Phuket - Thailand's equivalent to Bali - has been identified as particularly risky, on the basis of Western intelligence that suspected terrorists cased out locations there.

"It is going to be increasingly difficult, as pressure mounts for nations to step up their security, for the government to deny that they are involved and say they are not a part of this," said Panitan.

He noted, however, that since September 11, Thailand "has been detaining and questioning suspects and has reinforced security."

Compounding the problem, a series of violent incidents including arson attacks on schools and bomb blasts at a temple and hotel have shaken the south in recent weeks.

Although analysts believe local mafia and not international terrorists are to blame, the trouble is still bad news for a government bent on portraying Thailand as safe and protecting a 6.8 billion-dollar tourism industry.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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