In posting his comments, I think that Ridge was actually commenting more to your headline, than to the text.
An insurgency campaign in southern Thailand has been underway for a number of years. In recent times, it has been fuelled by intense scrutiny resulting from 9-11, al Qaeda and the like. However, another reason for the increase in local tensions has been due to things happening in Malaysia. Several of the northernmost states (ie: those bordering with Thailand) have, in the past few years, returned Muslim based provincial governments (despite the efforts of KL, etc).
So whilst the current developments may be new, the origins to the story are not.
This is in much the same way as the Filipino separatists have also been waging their campaign for years, but every so often the insurgency flares up into another localised hotspot.
One should also bear in mind that Malaysia has, for years, been a hotbed of insurgency (either harbouring, or being protected from such events). This, for instance, dates back to the days of the Malaya campaign when the risk of the Communist Domino Theory was all rife.
The Australian armed forces fought in the Malaya campaig, and for several decades, maintained combat readiness at the Butterworth RAAF Base in Malaysia.
Now, it might be more a case of keeping things in, rather than keeping things out.
That said, the Thai military are well equipped to deal with any form of insurgency campaign.
