Malaysians must not 'jump to conclusions' over the government's decision to offer assistance in dealing with the unrest in southern Thailand, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today.

He said Thailand and its people in the southern provinces were Malaysia's neighbours and thus helping them was an important factor in the practice of diplomacy.

"Malaysians shouldn't jump to conclusion over the matter.... If there are problems in a neighbouring country, we certainly would want to help in the best way we could," he was quoted as saying in a Bernama report.

Abdullah was referring to last Tuesday's meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Bangkok where they discussed the situation.

Following this, Thailand invited Malaysia to send religious scholars to give talks on the true teachings of Islam to discourage extremism and militancy in the provinces of Patani, Yala and Narathiwat, which have a large Muslim presence.

The southern provinces have been rocked with violence over the past few weeks. Last Wednesday, more than 100 people died in a battle with Thai security forces.

Peace and security

Meanwhile, Abdullah said extending assistance to a neighbour was a move that would ensure reciprocity and would help maintain peace and security within its borders for development to be implemented.

"The (Thai) border areas will have to be developed to prevent problems being created there," he added.

The premier said that such efforts should include measures to eradicate poverty and backwardness.

He added that Malaysia was fortunate that it had the experience which could hopefully assist the Thai government in one way or another to overcome the problem in its southern provinces.

"Our successes in facing the communist threat, the May 13 (racial riot) incident and the Memali event (arising from deviationist teachings) have provided us with much experience and a valuable lesson," he said.

Abdullah said Malaysia's ability to overcome these problems in its own way had enabled the country to maintain peace and security as well as political stability to pave way for efforts to develop the country.

Malaysians fortunate

On the same note, the premier said Malaysians were fortunate and should be grateful that they need not have to experience situations like in southern Thailand, Iraq or Palestine.

"Such calamitous situations in Iraq, Palestine and southern Thailand are, to me, extremely sad. We surely do no want such sufferings and hardships to take place anywhere.

"This world should be the most peaceful and safe place of all. It's sad that these things are happening," he said.

Abdullah said that there were lessons to be learned from these unfortunate events so that Malaysia does not commit the same mistakes which could lead to the country facing similar predicaments.