The eight-day joint military exercise is held from 22 to 29 October at Port Dickson. An opening ceremony was held at Segenting. The joint-military exercise will also be held at Klang, Selangor besides Port Dickson.

A total of 1,339 military personnel, 592 from Malaysia, 693 from China and 54 from Thailand are involved in the exercise. The drill involves four military warships, a destroyer, four helicopters and three frigates.

This is also the largest drill since Aman Youyi started in 2014.

The exercise is divided into two segments, where the general staff focus on peacekeeping while another group on warfare, sniper-shooting, martial arts, close-range fighting and others.

Malaysian Armed Forces Joint Force Commander Vice Admiral Syed Zahiruddin Putra said Aman Youyi 2018 marked another milestone in enhancing ties among three countries. The joint military exercise helped military troops to have better coordination in humanitarian aid and disaster relief, maintaining maritime peace and anti-terrorism.

He believes that through the military exercise, the partnership among three countries will be stronger as one understands the other more. He also welcomes new friends from China and Thailand where they can visit the army museum in Port Dickson, Kuala Lumpur or Malacca.

Lt Gen Ma Yiming, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department under China’s Central Military Commission, said tracing back history, Malaysia, Thailand and China have close ties long ago, as early as more than 600 years ago. Zhenghe, the great Chinese voyager visited Malaysia and started the seed of friendship between Malaysia and China while China and Thailand started its friendly ties more than 2,000 years ago. People of both countries have also been maintaining friendship.

Until today, apart from strategic partnership, Malaysia, Thailand and China are collaborative partners. All three are focusing on enhancing interactive collaboration to achieve a common destiny.

Royal Thai Armed Forces Director of Joint Operation (J3) Lt Gen Suphot Malaniyom said Thailand participated in the last military drill as an observer but full participation this year.

He is of the view that the Aman Youyi 2018 is a significant project among three countries which provides learning and interactive opportunities for three countries. It also helped to train planning capabilities, warfare training and upgrade military skills.

MALAYSIA IS willing to help Thailand end the ethno-religious conflict in the deep South using peaceful means, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday, suggesting the root cause of the problem was not religion but injustice.

Gratefully remembering the time when Thailand helped Malaysia end the communist insurgency in northern Malaysia in the late 1980s, he said his government would help the authorities in Bangkok solve the problems in the deep South.

Malaysia has played the role of facilitator in negotiations between the Thai government and MARA Patani, a so-called umbrella organisation of insurgent groups.

Mahathir, who arrived in Thailand on Wednesday on a two-day official visit after taking office for a second time in May, introduced Malaysia’s newly appointed facilitator, former national police chief Abdul Rahim Noor.

Thailand also introduced its negotiations chief, Udomchai Thamsarorat, who is a former commander of the Fourth Army Region.

However, while delivering a speech on Thai-Malaysian ties in the Asean context at Chulalongkorn University yesterday, Mahathir did not provide any details on how the peace talks will yield productive results.

A spate of violence has rocked the predominantly Muslim region since early 2004, killing more than 7,000 people so far. The Thai government has struggled since then to contain the violence, which it believes is being orchestrated by separatists.

The peace talks, initiated since 2013, have yet to yield any significant results to restore peace as many analysts say Bangkok has failed to address the problem at its root cause and fighters on the ground do not recognise MARA Patani as their representative.

Asked if the violence in the deep South could be attributed to religious extremism, Mahathir said: “I don’t believe that the centrality of the conflict is religion. If you look at the source of terrorism, you will find that some elements of injustice have occurred, for example if Thailand decided Chiang Mai will belong to somebody else, not be a part of Thailand, people will fight to retain their territory. People will be angry and want to recover their own land.”

‘Tremendous potential’

As immediate neighbours, Thailand and Malaysia also have border problems, but the two have discussions to determine who has the right to cross the border and who will be treated as a national of either Thailand or Malaysia, he said, referring to the chronic problem of dual nationality. It is believed that these individuals exploit their status to create problems on either side.

“We want to solve the problem through negotiations, administration or through protocol,” he said.

As for bilateral ties, Mahathir said Thai-Malaysian relations have been smooth as leaders on both sides are willing to solve all overlapping issues using peaceful means for mutual benefit. For instance, he said, the issue of overlapping maritime territory in the Gulf of Thailand could be turned into a joint development area, where natural gas can be exploited and shared equally through negotiation.

Mahathir, who played a key role as an architect of Asean during his first tenure as premier from 1981-2003, suggested that Thailand, when it takes over as chairman next year, should consider Asean’s internal market.

“I believe Asean countries have tremendous potential. The population is more than 600 million, and even if [some of them] are poor, they constitute a large market. Based on this, we can increase our output, but now we are buying everything from outside. We can do all things by ourselves.

“If we do that, the money will remain with us and not go out. We can produce everything that the 600 million people need. If we can do it properly, I’m sure Asean countries will grow much faster,” he said.

MALAYSIA IS willing to help Thailand end the ethno-religious conflict in the deep South using peaceful means, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday, suggesting the root cause of the problem was not religion but injustice.

Gratefully remembering the time when Thailand helped Malaysia end the communist insurgency in northern Malaysia in the late 1980s, he said his government would help the authorities in Bangkok solve the problems in the deep South.

Malaysia has played the role of facilitator in negotiations between the Thai government and MARA Patani, a so-called umbrella organisation of insurgent groups.

Mahathir, who arrived in Thailand on Wednesday on a two-day official visit after taking office for a second time in May, introduced Malaysia’s newly appointed facilitator, former national police chief Abdul Rahim Noor.

Thailand also introduced its negotiations chief, Udomchai Thamsarorat, who is a former commander of the Fourth Army Region.

However, while delivering a speech on Thai-Malaysian ties in the Asean context at Chulalongkorn University yesterday, Mahathir did not provide any details on how the peace talks will yield productive results.

A spate of violence has rocked the predominantly Muslim region since early 2004, killing more than 7,000 people so far. The Thai government has struggled since then to contain the violence, which it believes is being orchestrated by separatists.

The peace talks, initiated since 2013, have yet to yield any significant results, with many analysts saying Bangkok has failed to address the problem at its root cause while most separatist fighters do not recognise MARA Patani as their representative.

Asked if the violence in the deep South could be attributed to religious extremism, Mahathir said: “I don’t believe that the centrality of the conflict is religion. If you look at the source of terrorism, you will find that some elements of injustice have occurred, for example if Thailand decided Chiang Mai will belong to somebody else, not be a part of Thailand, people will fight to retain their territory. People will be angry and want to recover their own land.”

‘Tremendous potential’

As immediate neighbours, Thailand and Malaysia also have border problems, but the two have discussions to determine who has the right to cross the border and who will be treated as a national of either Thailand or Malaysia, he said, referring to the chronic problem of dual nationality. It is believed that these individuals exploit their status to create problems on both sides.

“We want to solve the problem through negotiations, administration or through protocol,” he said.

As for bilateral ties, Mahathir said Thai-Malaysian relations have been smooth as leaders on both sides are willing to solve all overlapping issues using peaceful means for mutual benefit. For instance, he said, the issue of overlapping maritime territory in the Gulf of Thailand could be turned into a joint development area, where natural gas can be exploited and shared equally through negotiation.

Mahathir, who played a key role as an architect of Asean during his first tenure as premier from 1981-2003, suggested that Thailand, when it takes over as chairman next year, should consider Asean’s internal market.

“I believe Asean countries have tremendous potential. The population is more than 600 million, and even if [some of them] are poor, they constitute a large market. Based on this, we can increase our output, but now we are buying everything from outside. We can do all things by ourselves.

“If we do that, the money will remain with us and not go out. We can produce everything that the 600 million people need. If we can do it properly, I’m sure Asean countries will grow much faster,” he said.

In 2010, Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, became the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to be found guilty of crimes committed under the genocidal regime more than 30 years ago.

Chat Sineang, the director of the Kandal prison where he is serving his sentence, told AFP that Duch had been undergoing treatment for respiratory problems since October 20, and was moved from a provincial treatment facility to the capital.

“He is still at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship hospital,” Sineang said, describing Duch’s condition as “quite serious because he is 76 now”.

He later said that Duch’s health had deteriorated by Wednesday afternoon, and he was taken to intensive care.

Judges at the UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia sentenced Duch to 35 years in prison. However, his term was reduced by five years after it ruled he had been illegally detained by a military court following his arrest in 1999.

In 2012, Duch had his prison sentence increased to life in an appeal ruling by the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s highest judicial chamber.

He was convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role at S-21, the regime’s most important interrogation centre where as many as 16,000 men, women and children were brutalised before being systematically exterminated.

Only 14 people are known to have survived Tuol Sleng, which under Duch’s meticulous and rigid hand evolved into an efficient killing machine that came to symbolise the worst excesses of the Khmer Rouge.

Entire families were imprisoned for the alleged crimes of a single member.

On a single day in 1977 alone, Duch ordered the executions of 160 children.

The period witnessed one of the 20th century’s worst tragedies, with an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians dying of disease, exhaustion, overwork, torture or execution.

S-21 is now a museum commemorating the horrors that were committed in the former school.

Manet, 41, has been promoted repeatedly and recently became the second most powerful person in the military after assuming the position of Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. He is also the commander of the army’s infantry.

Manet has recently been adopting a more prominent role in the Kingdom’s political affairs, meeting regional and world leaders, while also accompanying the prime minister on high-profile trips abroad.

He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1999 before completing a PhD in Economics from the UK’s University of Bristol in 2007.

In an interview with The World on Australia’s ABC News 24 in 2015, Manet said he had never considered succeeding his father as prime minister.

In a meeting in Switzerland with 900 members of the Cambodian community in Europe on Wednesday, the prime minister responded to journalists speculating on a possible successor by saying it was possible Manet could one day run in elections.

“In the CPP, there is no power struggle and our country is democratic. I do not know the fate of my son. If he is elected, he can be prime minister. I do not want my son to be involved in politics, but we cannot ban him [from doing so].”

“There is one newspaper [that writes] about me. It says that it seems Hun Sen is pushing his eldest son to become prime minister, but at the moment there is no sign [of this]. I should tell all of you, if his father is prime minister, why would he want to vie for the position?” Hun Sen asked.

Ou Chanrath, a former court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker, said it would not be “strange” if the prime minister’s son was one day approved to stand as a prime ministerial candidate, while Manet has the right to do so as Cambodia is a democratic country.

“It is not strange if [Hun Sen] wants to train his son to become prime minister or if his son wants to become prime minister. That is his right and nothing is strange about that either.”

“People have the right to get involved in politics and right to want to lead a country, but the important thing is that in a democratic society, the support of people is required,” he said.

Chanrath said it was likely that Manet would eventually find himself in top political positions.

“Surely, as a father, [Hun Sen] would want competent children in his family. I believe they will have training and support in order to continue holding power and to make sure that [Hun Sen’s] child can hold the top political position in the country,” he said.

In the 2015 interview with The World, Manet said: “Cambodia is a multiparty democracy. The Constitution dictates that we have an election every five years. So the choice … the decisions of who and when to be a leader is up to the people of Cambodia.”

Asked if he would succeed his father, Manet said it depended on the will of the Cambodian people. “The answer is: I don’t know.”

“Our father has stated many times that he doesn’t want his children to follow [him] into politics. What I’ve done in the past is purely for humanitarian basis [and not out of political ambition,” Manet said.

Asked if he would run for the position of prime minister if the Cambodian people supported him, he replied: “Not no, not yes.”

Marzuki Darusman, chair of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, told a press conference that beyond mass killings, the conflict included the ostracization of the targeted population, prevention of births, and widespread displacement in camps.

“It is an ongoing genocide,” said Darusman.

“We consider the genocide intent can be reasonably inferred,” he added as he presented the team’s report at a Security Council meeting called by Western powers but opposed by China and Russia.

The fact-finding mission’s explosive 444-page report was first made public last month. It called on the council to refer the Myanmar situation to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, or to create an ad hoc international criminal tribunal, as was done with the former Yugoslavia.

The report said that Myanmar’s top generals, including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in Rakhine State.

Myanmar has rejected accusations that its military committed atrocities in the crackdown last year that forced 720,000 Rohingya to flee over the border to Bangladesh.

The conflict has also seen some 390 villages destroyed and 10,000 Rohingya killed, said Darusman.

“The conditions are not in place for a safe, dignified and sustainable return of the Rohingyas in Bangladesh,” to Myanmar, he warned, adding any attempt would just risk more deaths.

He added Myanmar’s internal inquiries have “proven to be ineffective failures” so far.

The UN’s Special Envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener added: “Accountability is one of two important pillars for national reconciliation, the other is inclusive dialogue.

“Credible fact-finding is the first step towards accountability.”

The Myanmar government rejected the UN mission’s findings, questioning its independence and pointing out that it had established itself an independent investigative commission made up of Asian diplomats.

Myanmar maintains that the violence in Rakhine was triggered by Rohingya extremists who attacked border posts in August 2017.

Speaking to members of Cambodian diaspora in Geneva, Switzerland, Hun Sen said some people were concerned about the influx of Chinese nationals who live and work in the Kingdom, particularly in Preah Sihanouk province.

He argued that the Chinese are in Cambodia to “fill the gap in the Kingdom’s construction labour market”.

“There are a lot of construction projects [in Cambodia], but we don’t have enough skilled workers, therefore we have to bring [the Chinese] in to build our bridges and help with many other projects.”

“When they finish their work, they will return to their home country. So don’t question … we don’t have any law that allows them to stay, after all,” said Hun Sen.

He said last year, there were about 1.2 million Chinese tourists in Cambodia. This year that number can grow to 1.5 million.

“And talking about China invading Cambodia … isn’t there Chinatown in France? Yes! Chinatown in the US? Yes! Even Cambodia has no Chinatown,” he said.

Hun Sen said some former opposition politicians had severely criticised the influx of the Chinese as they believed they [the Chinese] always committed various crimes, and that they pose serious risks to the Kingdom.

But he argued: “When [the Chinese] don’t come to invest, [the opposition] would talk. When they come to invest, [the opposition] say they came to invade Cambodia … What’s wrong with these people? Crazy!

“We are a sovereign state. China has never even sent their troops beyond their borders. How many times have other countries sent their troops to invade Cambodia?”

The Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Immigration director-general Sok Phal has said that, currently, there are about 210,000 Chinese nationals living in Cambodia.

Of the number, over 70,000 live in Preah Sihanouk province alone.

Affiliated Network for Social Accountability executive director San Chey said the government must strictly enforce immigration laws following the increase of various crimes “committed by Chinese nationals”.

“If the government prevents and controls the Chinese properly, then people wouldn’t be so worried,” he said.

Chey said the influx of Chinese workers takes away benefits from Cambodia’s labour force.

The country’s workers, he argued, would lose employment opportunities which will result in Cambodians emigrating to other countries to find work.