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Aspects of Islam in Thailand Today

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Aspects of Islam in Thailand Today I S I M NEWSLETTER 3 / 9 9 Regional issues 19 Southeast Asia IMTIYAZ YUSUF Aspects of Islam in Thai Muslims and their co-religionists in Sri Lanka and Burma provide three examples of Muslim minority communities living in Theravada Buddhist majority countries. Two main groups comprise the Thai Mus- Thailand Today lim community: the ‘native Muslims’, or the Malays re- siding in the southern provinces, and the ‘settled/nat- cal social manners, perspectives, formalities of the inadequate attention given by the uralized’ Muslims of different ethnic backgrounds re- and practices. They share the Southeast party to specific Muslim matters and of the siding across the country Ð hence the ethnic, linguis- Asian social demeanour and conventions of breaking of electoral promises. These disap- tic, cultural and political variation within the Thai moderation, compromise and mutual con- pointments caused them to form in 1988 a Muslim community. The southern Muslims make up sultation. Thai Muslims maintain, express Thai Muslim political faction called the Wah- the majority (approximately 700,000, or 80%) of the and symbolize their identity through reli- dah (Unity), whose priority is to address de- total current Thai Muslim population (approximately gious institutions such as the mosque, p o n- velopmental problems facing the Thai Mus- 5-7 million). d o k or Madrasah and the office of the Chu- lim community. It has been described as an l a r a t c h a m o n t r i /Shaikh al-Islam,3 as well as ethnic movement seeking to achieve the in- Islam is the second main religion in Thai- through Islamic festivals celebrated at the terests of the Thai Muslims from within the land, with Muslims constituting the largest national level, including Maulid al-Nabi. political system.5 The 300 years old Masjid Talok Manok religious minority. Thailand’s history of The Wahdah sees itself as an independent in Bacho district, Narathiwat, Thailand Islam dates back to the Ayutthaya Dynasty Islamic education in Thailand political group ready to support any politi- (1350-1767), when the country was still Historically, the famous p o n d o k system of cal party that promises to pay special atten- known as Siam. The independent Malay Islamic education was instituted in Pattani tion to developmental issues and problems kingdoms to the south had not yet been in- and is noted for its celebrated scholars such facing Thai Muslims. Since its inception, it corporated. They were not to become part as Ahmad bin Muhammad Zain al-Fatani has aligned itself with the New Aspiration of Thailand until 1902. Islam arrived from and Daud al-Fatani, who played a pivotal Party (NAP) or Kuam Wang Mai (Thai) also various directions: the Malay-Indonesian role in the spread and development of Is- known as Harappan Baru (Malay) estab- archipelago, Yemen (Hadhramawt), Persia, lamic education in Southeast Asia. Their in- lished in 1990. The Muslim members of the India, Burma, China and Cambodia. tellectual influence has a left a lasting mark parliament from the Wahdah have obtained The establishment of Islam in Malacca, on the development of Islamic scholarship. cabinet posts for the first time in the three during the reign of Sultan Iskandar, led to Initially, the Thai state considered the edu- recently democratically elected coalition the spread of the early syncretic Islam in the cational programmes implemented by the governments since 1992. However, the po- A Surau ( Musalla / Prayer house) at Southeast Asian archipelago, reaching Pat- p o n d o k to be out-dated. Not recognizing litical alignment of the Wahdah could Natanjong, Yaring, Pattani district, tani by 1387. The upper southern Thai their moral-cultural relevance, the idea was change in view of the implications that the T h a i l a n d province of Songkhla marks the language to streamline them along modern-secular current economic crisis may have for the border between Malay and Thai-speaking educational lines.4 Finally, upon Muslim next parliamentary election. Muslims. There was minimal spreading of protest, the religio-moral aspects of this de- Despite differing approaches according to Malay Islamic religiosity beyond Songkhla. mand for an integrated form of education as political party, the Thai Muslim members of This was partly due to consolidation of the a means of maintaining Muslim identity and the Parliament and the Senate agree upon ‘orthodoxy of Singhalese (Theravada) Bud- preparing the youth morally for modern the urgent need to address specific devel- dhism, which had been introduced into the professional life were recognized. This led opmental matters such as the improvement Indo-chinese Peninsula by the Mons of to the setting up of Islamic Private Schools. of the infra-structure and economic devel- Burma and was disseminated further by the Contemporary Islamic education in Thai- opment of the Muslim majority provinces T h a i ’1 already a century prior, following the land is cultivated through both the p o n d o k, within the IMT-GT (Indonesia, Malaysia, decline of Hindu-Sanskrit culture and Ma- which offers solely religious education, and Thailand-Growth Triangle) programme. Other hayana Buddhism in the Menam and the combined educational programmes dis- important matters include facilitating travel An old Muslim house in Thailand Mekong basins. One may remark that the seminated by the Islamic Private Schools. arrangements for Thai pilgrims to the Hajj, encounter between Malay Islam and Thai These latter are under the supervision of the obtaining legal permission for Thai Muslim Buddhism was one of two religious ‘native Ministry of Education. Both types of institu- females to wear the h i j a b in public places type’ orthodoxies founded on ethno-lin- tions are manned by graduates of religious (which has been granted) and the establish- guistic distinctions. seminaries and universities from Malay-In- ment of an Islamic bank as an alternative fi- The other arrivals of Islam into Thailand donesian Archipelago, al-Azhar in Egypt, nancial institution. were from various directions of the country, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, India, Pakistan and In the current Thai government led by the made up mostly of immigrant Muslims of T u r k e y . Democrats, the Foreign Minister is Dr Surin different sectarian and ethnic backgrounds. Pitsuwan, a prominent Thai Muslim member The central plains of the country comprise Thai Muslims on the political of the Democrat Party. Mr Wan Muhammad Thai Muslims of Persian, Pakistani, Indone- s t a g e Nor Matta, member of the Wahdah and sian and Cham extraction. While those re- The Thai Muslim minority participated in deputy leader of the NAP currently in oppo- Masjid Saiburi, Pattani district, siding in the northern provinces of Lam- the national political process during both its sition, is serving as elected speaker of the T h a i l a n d pang, Chiangmai and Chiang Rai are of Ben- democratic and non-democratic eras. This Thai parliament and is president of the Na- gali, Burmese and Yunnanese (Chinese) ori- engagement has earned Thai Muslims recog- tional Assembly. Muslim support for the gin, having migrated to Thailand for eco- nition within the political system. Thai Mus- Wahdah faction is increasing in the south Dr. Imtiyaz Yusuf, College of Islamic Studies, nomic and political reasons (they were flee- lim politicians have represented different po- and is gaining popularity among Thai Mus- Prince of Songkla University, Thailand. ing from religious persecution at the hands litical parties in the various parliamentary lims residing in other parts of the country. E-mail: [email protected] of the communists in China and the nation- elections that have taken place in the coun- The next elections will be a test of the polit- alists in Burma.).2 There are also converts to try since its emergence as a constitutional ical popularity of the Democrat Party, the N o t e s Islam either through marriage or religious monarchy in 1932. This era also witnessed NAP and other parties among the Thai Mus- 1 . G. Coedès, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia conversion. Most Thai Muslims are Sunnis, the southern Muslim struggle against the lims. (Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii, 1971) yet there is also a small Shia community be- policy of ‘Thai-ization’. Over the decades, the Thai Muslims and p .2 1 8 . longing to both the Imami and Bohras/ Thai Muslim politicians representing Mus- Buddhists have come to understand and 2 . Suthep Soonthornpasuch, ‘Islamic Identity in Mustali Ismailis sub-groups. lim majority constituencies have long been recognize their ethnic and religio-cultural Chiengmai City: A Historical and Structural Apart from ethnic differences, there is also concerned about developmental problems identities. The enlightened of both commu- Comparison of Two Communities’, PhD linguistic diversity within the Thai Muslim facing Muslims such as: educational amelio- nities have realized the need to move away dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1977. community. The majority of Muslims in the ration, economic progress, cultural-religious from rigidity and exclusivity. Yet there re- Also David Wilson and David Henley, ‘Northern south speak Malay, while those residing in freedom, and political recognition. main several development issues, in the Comfort: The Contented Muslims of Chiang Mai’. other parts of Thailand converse in Thai, The political engagement of Thai Muslims areas of education and economy of the Bangkok Post, 4 January 1995, pp. 33,40. both at home and in public. They are no has also undergone transformation since Muslim sector, to be addressed Ð both pub- 3 . Imtiyaz Yusuf, ‘Islam and Democracy in Thailand: longer familiar with the languages of their the recent rekindling of the democratic licly and privately.
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