Malay-Thai War

Malay-Thai War

Since the Patani insurgency that has escalated since the turn of the millennium, relations between Thailand and Malaysia have gotten soured. Especially since the eventful turn of events throughout the 2010’s with the coup of 2014 and the assassination of King Rama IX in the incident of 2018 of which led to a full-on dictatorship rubber stamped by the “approval” of Rama IX’s son. The dictatorship in particular, a junta that technically has been in power since 2014, went on to suppress the insurgency in a harsh manner and oppress the Muslim population in the name of such that would end up having its “major non-NATO ally” status revoked; unsurprisingly, Thailand turned more towards Russia and China in compensation of the revocation. Malaysia in particular while not an ally of NATO and SCO (later PATO and ESCO), wasn’t pleased with Thailand’s suppression of Islam in the name of fighting Islamist terrorism and is one of the harshest critics of the Thai Junta. Four years later, the ongoing crackdown on anyone who’s a threat to Thai national security would take a toll on the economy, leading to mass demonstrations and riots against the junta. However this does not deter the junta from having an indefinite “state of emergency” in the name of national security. All of that would be challenged on April 30^th, 2022, when an explosion occurred in a naval base near Malaysia that killed several personnel including a few Junta officials. This sent shockwaves to the regime in that it all occurred right under their noses just when the insurgency was thought to have been defeated. Making matters worse is that the perpetrators are rumored to have been getting support from some Malaysian military personnel even though there has yet to be proof of that. Never the less, Thai-Malay relations hit rock bottom since that day, with negotiations not leading to any meaningful conclusion between the two countries and both of them recalling their ambassadors, leading to a standoff between them. The Thai Junta had an opportunity to retain their national dignity by resolving the issue by force and so they decided on invading Malaysia, knowing very well what would happen if they didn’t choose so (even though in reality they really didn’t have to at all); they went as far as to revive the claims on Malay territories that have been abandoned since the end of the Second World War. The Malaysians on the other hand, wanted the regime to moderate and allow independence for the Patani region but the Junta would not allow it. The Junta’s decision to make war became solid when on the morning of May 2^nd, 2022, Royal Thai Army units supported by the Royal Thai Airforce moved onto Malaysian soil on the Malay-Thai border, thus, beginning the Malay-Thai War, the first conventional war in Southeast Asia in the 21^st century.