The ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute (formerly Institute of Southeast Asian Studies) is an autonomous organization established in 1968. It is a regional centre dedicated to the study of socio-political, security, and economic trends and developments in Southeast Asia and its wider geostrategic and economic environment. The Institute’s research programmes are grouped under Regional Economic Studies (RES), Regional Strategic and Political Studies (RSPS), and Regional Social and Cultural Studies (RSCS). The Institute is also home to the ASEAN Studies Centre (ASC), the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre (NSC) and the Singapore APEC Study Centre. ISEAS Publishing, an established academic press, has issued more than 2,000 books and journals. It is the largest scholarly publisher of research about Southeast Asia from within the region. ISEAS Publishing works with many other academic and trade publishers and distributors to disseminate important research and analyses from and about Southeast Asia to the rest of the world. 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 2 19/9/18 3:17 PM First published in Singapore in 2019 by ISEAS Publishing 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Singapore 119614 E-mail: [email protected] Website: <http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg> All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. © 2019 ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore The responsibility for facts and opinions in this publication rests exclusively with the author and his interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the publishers or their supporters. ISEAS Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Anusorn Unno. “We Love Mr King” : Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand in the Wake of the Unrest. 1. Malays (Asian people) —Thailand, Southern. 2. Sovereignty—Thailand, Southern. 3. Islam and politics—Thailand, Southern. I. Title. II. Title: Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand in the Wake of the Unrest. DS570 M3A63 2019 ISBN 978-981-4818-11-7 (soft cover) ISBN 978-981-4818-12-4 (ebook, PDF) Cover photos: Ceremonial footed tray. Photos courtesy of Anusorn Unno. Typeset by Superskill Graphics Pte Ltd Printed in Singapore by Mainland Press Pte Ltd 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 4 19/9/18 3:17 PM For all those who have lost their lives in the southern unrest 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 5 19/9/18 3:17 PM 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 6 19/9/18 3:17 PM Contents List of Tables and Figures ix Acknowledgements xi Main “Dramatis Personae” xiii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Guba 12 1.1. Guba of Raman District 13 1.2. Guba and the Raman Sultanate 20 1.3. “Wild Guba” 25 Chapter 2: Winds of Change 33 2.1. The Unrest 34 2.2. Security Forces Operations 46 2.3. Okhrae Dalae 51 2.4. A Moment of Fear and Distrust 55 Chapter 3: Subjectivities on the Rise 67 Part 1: Formal Subjectivities 68 3.1. Muslims 68 3.1.1. The Return of Babo and the Advent of Islamic Strands 69 3.1.2. A Formal Islamic Way of Life 76 3.1.3. Diverse Muslims 77 3.2. Thai Citizens 82 3.2.1. Disciplining the Children 82 3.2.2. Training the Men 87 3.2.3. Taking Care of the Population 93 3.3. Royal Subjects 106 3.3.1. Royal Initiatives 107 3.3.2. Royal Recognition 111 3.3.3. Royal Involvement with the Recent Unrest 113 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 7 19/9/18 3:17 PM viii contents Part 2: Local Subjectivities 120 3.4. The Subordinates 120 3.4.1. Khru Razak and His Legacy 120 3.4.2. Official Leaders 131 3.4.3. Grey Figures 141 3.5. Faara: A Girl of Multiple Subjectivities 148 Chapter 4: The Clashes 162 4.1. Different Strands of Islam 163 4.2. Islam and Malay Beliefs and Rituals 173 4.3. Malay-Muslim Identity and Thai Citizenship 182 Chapter 5: Living Lives with Multiple Subjectivities 190 5.1. Negotiating with Allah and Interpreting Islam 191 5.2. Modifying the Malay World 194 5.3. Outsmarting the State 196 5.4. Observing the Insurgents’ and Strongmen’s Rules 201 5.5. “Puloh Yaakob”: Encountering de facto Sovereignty 203 Chapter 6: Engaging with the Sovereigns 212 6.1. Women of Allah 214 6.2. “We Love Mr King”: Crafting Subjectivity and Enacting Agency through the Exceptional Sovereign 221 Conclusion: Sovereignty in Crisis 236 Bibliography 241 Index 249 About the Author 258 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 8 19/9/18 3:17 PM List of Tables and Figures Table 2.1: The Unrest in Guba and Adjacent Areas, 2004–16 37 Table 3.1: Thailand’s 2010 Fiscal-Year Budget for the Programme for Solving Problems in and Developing the Southern Border Provinces 94 Table 4.1: Bomohs in Guba and Their Services and Specializations 181 Figure 1.1: Guba 14 Figure 1.2: Raman in Nationalist Historiographies 23 Figure 3.1: Khru Razak 124 Figure 3.2: Faara 153 Figure 6.1: The Thai Flag 223 Figure 6.2: Ceremonial Footed Tray: เรารัก (rao rak) = We Love 225 Figure 6.3: Ceremonial Footed Tray: นายหลวง (nay luang) = Mr King 225 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 9 19/9/18 3:17 PM 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 10 19/9/18 3:17 PM Acknowledgements This book has emerged out of my long-time research in Thailand’s Deep South. It began in 2007 with a Summer Pilot Research Grant I received from the University of Washington’s Department of Anthropology, enabling me to travel across the region to assess the feasibility of doing fieldwork amid the unrest and to select a field site for a PhD dissertation. I was able to identify at least three villages that were suitable for the research I sought to conduct. However, the village that struck me as most appropriate was Guba. This is not only because it lends itself to the examination of research questions but more importantly because it possesses necessary conditions for fieldwork — the interlocutors’ hospitality and open-mindedness — that make it possible for a Thai Buddhist like me (and the only Thai Buddhist in the village during my sojourn) to carry out a thirteen-month period of fieldwork there. After I graduated and then taught at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, I continued to conduct research in Guba from which material in this book was also drawn. I am therefore deeply indebted and thankful to the people of Guba and especially the family with whom I stayed, although I cannot name their real names given the sensitivity of the issues discussed. I am grateful to my PhD supervisory committee. Celia Lowe, committee chair and also my adviser, not only encouraged me to work on the southern unrest since the beginning of my PhD study but also provided me with relevant theories and ethnography as well as organized dissertation writing workshops in Indonesia. Charles F. Keyes offered his insightful knowledge about Thai society and also introduced me to important works on Thailand’s Deep South and Malaysia; he also guided me if he felt that I was pushing an argument too far. Arzoo Osanloo was a real help on subjects related to Islam, and Carlo Bonura was a friendly and thoughtful discussant on southern Thai politics. I also received encouraging comments from Sara R. Curran, an external committee member who has conducted extensive research in northeastern Thailand. Without their help, I could not have finished my dissertation. I am also thankful to the National Science Foundation for the Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant that financially supported my fieldwork in Guba in 2008–09. 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 11 19/9/18 3:17 PM xii acknowledgements For the research projects, I am thankful to the Ministry of Culture’s Department of Cultural Promotion for providing me with a grant to study Malay beliefs and rituals in light of Islamic reform in Guba in 2012–13. I am thankful to the Thailand Research Fund, which provided me with a grant to study multiple forms of sovereignty in Guba in 2014–15. In this project, I received insightful comments and suggestions from Chaiwat Sa-tha-anand, who served as the project’s mentor and to whom I am thankful. I received help and support from many people in writing this book. Christopher Joll not only strongly encouraged me to write the book but also provided me with a comprehensive list of scholarly literature on Islam in general and Thailand’s Deep South in particular. His book on Muslim merit-making in the southernmost region is extensively used in the book, and I greatly appreciate it. I am thankful to Aryud Yahprung for promptly sending me his dissertation on Islamic reform and revival in southern Thailand. I am grateful to Michael Montesano for his support and encouragement in writing this book. Reviewers’ comments and suggestions played a crucial role in transforming my flawed and awkward manuscript into something more presentable. They are really appreciated. I am also thankful to my wife, Chalita Bundhuwong, who spent late nights with me offering support while doing her own work while I was writing this book. All praise goes to the people of Guba and the aforementioned persons. Any errors contained within are entirely mine. Anusorn Unno Bangkok, 6 December 2017 18-J03846 00 We Love Mr King.indd 12 19/9/18 3:17 PM Main “Dramatis Personae” (Alphabetically) Abidin New Group practitioner Aiman The family’s second son, a ritual and cultural specialist Aryani Mother of three whose husband was killed in the unrest Azlan Chairman of village 1 Red-Whiskered Bulbul club Daessa The family’s rubber tapper, a member of various state-supported groups Dahari Southern Guba mosque committee member Effendi Rubber trader, a