Malaysia, Thailand agree to build border wall amid trafficking woes

[buksida]

Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to build a wall along their common border next year amid growing concerns about human trafficking.

The 640-kilometer Malaysia-Thailand border has long been the site of transnational crime, including the rampant smuggling of weapons, drugs, and people. In May, the issue sparked international furor following the discovery of mass graves in jungle camps in Malaysia near the border used by suspected smugglers of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. Similar graves were discovered in Thailand, which again received the lowest ranking in the U.S. annual trafficking report this year.

On Monday, Malaysian Armed Forces chief Zulkifeli Mohd. Zin announced that the two countries had reached a pact to build a border wall at the General Border Committee Meeting.

The idea of building structures to contain cross-border crime itself is not new to the two countries. Most recently, in 2013 both countries separately proposed constructing their own fences along the border for this purpose. As Zulkifeli pointed out, this new agreement is different because both nations would embark on the initiative together rather than individually, thereby increasing coordination and reducing costs.

“From the aspect of patrolling, Thailand will inspect their side and we, on ours. It is more practical and saves costs for both countries,” he said following the conclusion of the 32nd Malaysia-Thailand High Level Committee Meeting.

The agreement will now be referred to Malaysia’s parliament for the provision of funds. Sections along the border have reportedly already been identified for constructing the wall by both sides.

But while a border wall will no doubt be an imposing physical barrier to cross-border crime, it is unclear to what extent it will actually help reduce it. There are many other factors beyond physical infrastructure that contribute to the problem, most notably corruption. As I reported before, in June Malaysia’s police intelligence agency noted in a report compiled over ten years that a startling 80 percent of law enforcement officers in Malaysia’s borders were corrupt, with many of them directly involved in smuggling drugs, weapons, and people.

Suffice to say it will take more than any physical wall to solve this aspect of the problem.

Source: The Diplomat

[Spitfire]

As long as there are corrupt local officials on both sides of the border then a fence means sweet FA and they [the perps] will find a convenient way to circumvent the new idea.

As usual....they are trying to fix the wrong area that the problem is not to be found in......just misdirection from where the real issues are.

Snooze.....ZZZZZZzzzzzzz.

[Bristolian]

^^ Agreed. The answer in not in building a wall. The answer is simple, tighten down on officials at the borders. Imprison officials who take bribes/backhanders and police the borders in a professional manner. QED. Zzzzzzz

[margaretcarnes]

Building walls and other barriers along the borders of countries seems to be the 'in' thing at the moment - and something I thought we had seen the end of when the Berlin wall came down.
Even Trump says that if elected as US President he will build a wall along the border with Mexico.
Fair enough. Walls and fences won't do any harm. The may not do too much good either where corruption is involved but it's a start. It's just sad that it is seen as necessary.

[JamesWest]

Building walls and other barriers along the borders of countries seems to be the 'in' thing at the moment - and something I thought we had seen the end of when the Berlin wall came down.
Even Trump says that if elected as US President he will build a wall along the border with Mexico.
Fair enough. Walls and fences won't do any harm. The may not do too much good either where corruption is involved but it's a start. It's just sad that it is seen as necessary.

the Berlin wall was to keep people IN who wanted to leave. In other words, just about everybody. I was there and saw the Russians machine gunning unarmed civilians trying to reach freedom in the west.

So are they going to clear a 50 meter wide section of jungle along the Thai Malaysia border and build a 6 meter high double chain link fence with razor wire, lights and guard towers every 300 meters?

The border length is 646.5 km. I am all for it if it helps keep the other problem out.

[margaretcarnes]

James W - good to have a first hand account of what happened in Berlin - thank you - but is Syria reaching that stage? Maybe.
Back to the Malaysian border though. Yes perhaps it will prove necessary to the powers that be to clear jungle and build 6 metre razor wire fences. Other countries are doing it as we speak. My concern is that the problem of border controls is rapidly spreading world wide. Maybe the world just isn't ready to become that idealistic melting pot.

[Chazz14]

Yes, they only need to patrol all 640kms all day, every day - and job done!

If the crooks can no longer crossnthe border at will, this may result in increased Tea Money Tariffs at the Border crossings...?

[charlesh]

It suits the malaysian government to have as much unrest in the sth of T as possible ( see corruption scandal, musso insurgency leading to territorial claims and un involvement).
Did anyone say anything about the fence being strung out to sea, ha, ha?