By Geert De Clercq

SINGAPORE, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Ex-Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan, poised to become ASEAN secretary-general in January, said on Thursday development is key to peace in Thailand's restive south and other parts of the region facing Muslim unrest.

"On the question of Islam from the perspective of the region, we have to make a collective effort to maintain the moderation of the Muslim community of Southeast Asia," Surin, himself a Muslim, told Reuters on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit.

Thailand was not the only country in the Association of South East Asian Nations to face problems with its Muslim minority and ASEAN's approach would be to bring development to strife-torn areas, said the Harvard graduate.

"There are many pockets of poverty, of neglect, of marginalisation within our region. The ASEAN countries are now committed to bridging the gap between them," said Surin, 58.

On Tuesday, leaders of the 10 Southeast Asian countries signed a charter enshrining human rights and democracy and an economic blueprint to create an EU-style free-trade bloc.

More than 2,600 people have been killed in a nearly 4-year-old separatist insurgency in Thailand's Malay-speaking Muslim south, a former sultanate annexed by Bangkok a century ago.

Surin is a Muslim from the largely Buddhist southern province of Nakon Si Thammarat, north of the three Muslim-dominated provinces where most of the violence has occurred.

Since he was installed by Thailand's coup leaders last year, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has travelled south to apologise for the heavy-handed military response of his predecessor, Thaksin Shinawatra. But the violence has raged on.

Thaksin, a billionaire telecoms tycoon, had also showered millions of dollars of development aid on the region which borders Malaysia. But that failed to win the hearts and minds of local Muslims.

Nevertheless, Surin said economic and social cooperation among Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia under a three-way growth pact, which their leaders discussed on the sidelines of the summit, would help bring a solution to the Thai unrest.

"It is not beyond our capability as a region to make sure that the Muslim community in the region remains moderate, and progressive and open," Surin said.

He also said if his old Democrat Party led the next coalition government after Thailand's Dec. 23 general election, it could bring a new approach to the south.

"Suppressive measures will not be used because the issue is not that people want to create trouble and violence, but that there is a lack of opportunities and a lack of justice," he said. (Editing by Neil Chatterjee and Darren Schuettler)

AlertNet news is provided by