The Indonesian government should play an active role in helping Thailand resolve deadly conflicts in Muslim-dominated provinces, experts and lawmakers have urged.

Lawmaker Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate Party said Sunday it was time the Indonesian government gave full attention to three troubled provinces in southern Thailand.

"Rather than paying too much attention to problems far away from home, the government should resolve conflicts in our own backyard. Enough is enough. The conflicts have claimed too many lives," he told The Jakarta Post.

The current Thai Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, has suggested it could learn about peace negotiation by studying the decades of conflict in Aceh that saw thousands of people killed in the Indonesian province.

According to an official of the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok, the Thai Cabinet has planned to send a team to Aceh to study peace negotiation.

However, the Thai military said it was still examining the proposal while some Thai Muslim leaders underlined that Aceh and southern Thailand were far different. They said Aceh was facing Muslim-dominated authorities while they negotiated with a Buddhist government.

Some figures in southern Thailand, however, expressed guarded optimism that Indonesia's involvement would help solve the conflicts that had claimed over 2,700 lives and wounded 6,000 others up to January 2008.

"We believe Indonesia's integrity. We hope its involvement can lead to a solution," said Yasin, a teacher at an Islamic boarding school in Yala.

He said Indonesia's largest Muslim organizations such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah had promoted Indonesia's pluralism.

Southeast Asian expert at the University of Indonesia Hariyadi Wirawan said the Indonesian government had to prove its commitment to the peace building efforts in southern Thailand.

"I think the government must involve as many parties as possible, including academics, nongovernmental organizations and Muslim leaders, if Jakarta is to seriously help bring peace to the areas," he said.

Hariyadi, however, warned that an Aceh peace process model would not work in southern Thailand.

He said that different from Aceh, which saw a rebellious movement spearheaded by the Free Aceh Movement, or the southern Philippines which has a strong leader like Nur Misuari, any mediator would face difficulties in finding who represents Muslims in southern Thailand, which until now has no influential leaders to deal with.

"That's why input from Indonesian academics and clerics will be invaluable," Hariyadi said.

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