I am amused at the sudden interest in an internal conflict of Thailand. It reminds me of when our neighbours interferes in our own internal conflicts and the subsequent adamant reactions that our press and politicians raised against them.

A case of the pot calling the kettle black perhaps? What is different in southern Thailand is that the conflict happens to afflict a Muslim community.

I wonder why this should make the difference. Poverty and injustice afflicts all communities. The social problems faced by the community in south Thailand are faced by many other Thais in other parts of that country.

Perhaps our heated reactions betray an ignorance of our immediate neighbour. Thailaind is made up of many diverse ethnic groups with diverse religious beliefs. They all suffer the same socio-economic problems, from Muslims in the south to the animists in the northeast with the mainstream Buddhists in between.

The reality is that certain interested parties are putting a religious spin on the southern Thai conflict and predictably, we Malaysians of that inclination are lapping it up. Had the conflict involved some other community, I wonder if it would have raised even an eyebrow over here.

Did we make an outcry when several Thai students were killed in political demonstrations in Bangkok in the country's troubled past?

What is more shameful, though, is not the ignorant laymen who raise the hullabaloo but the politicians here who try to take advantage of the situation to raise their own political profile and visibility.

These people are exploiting the plight of the victims of the conflict for their own political gain, under the false guise of speaking up for what is supposedly right.

That is the greatest tragedy.