Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva departed Bangkok for Jakarta Friday for a two-day official visit that will include talks on the Myanmar-Muslim Rohingya boat people.

The Thai military has been criticized for pushing back about 1,000 Rohingya refugees from Thailand's southern shores in December, dragging them out to sea in boats without engines or sufficient food and water.

Some of the boat people were rescued by the Indonesian Navy off the coast of Aceh.

Thailand and Indonesia have agreed that the Rohingya problem should be tackled using the Bali Process, Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.

Created in 2002, the Bali Process brings participants together to work on practical measures to combat people smuggling, trafficking in persons and related transnational crimes in the region.

Thailand has proposed that the Rohingya issue be jointly tackled by the various countries concerned - including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.

The Rohingya, from northern Arakan State in Myanmar, have been denied citizenship by Myanmar's ruling junta, who claim the Muslim minority group are migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has also denied the Rohingya citizenship, leaving the minority group stateless, homeless and without work. Thousands of Rohingya are working illegally in Thailand and as migrant labour in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

The Rohingya problem will be discussed on the sidelines of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, February 27- March 1 in Hua Hin, Thailand.