Islam in Southeast Asia

6. Thailand and Philippines

59 Chapter฀6 Thailand฀and฀Philippines The issues facing the Muslim minorities in Thailand and the Philippines are, in some ways, quite similar. In both countries, Muslims constitute a relatively small population of about 5 to 7 per cent of the total population, are geographically located in the poorer southern part of the country, are proud of their identity and civilization, and have been struggling for some form of autonomy from the central government, without success, for many years. Historical neglect, low socio-economic status, religious antagonism, and violent separatist uprisings that have cost thousands of lives, all combined to explain the continuing plight of minority Muslims in these two countries, a plight not shared by other Muslim minorities in other parts of Southeast Asia. MUSLIMS฀IN฀THAILAND Thai Muslims have had a long history, stretching a few centuries, ever since the kingdom of Patani became a center of Islam around the late fourteenth century. In the seventeenth century, the success of Persian Muslim traders caught the attention of the Thai king, Pracau Songtham (1602–27) who appointed Muslims as some of his advisers. The fall of Muslim Patani to the Siamese monarch in 1789 led to the ethnic and religious ISLAM฀in฀SEA฀p1-94.indd฀฀฀59 2/1/08฀฀฀11:55:16฀AM 60฀ Islam฀in฀Southeast฀Asia segmentation of Thai Muslims, vis-à-vis the Thai nation (Che Man 1990; Kettani 1986). At a time when all Thais were subjected to a common citizenship and to the official Thai religion of Theravada Buddhism, Muslims in the south, constituting about 7 per cent of the total Thai population of about 65 million, were clamouring for autonomy in matters of Islam and Malay culture. What ensued was decades of tension and conflict with the Thai state, which adopted an assimilationist policy in dealing with the “Muslim problem”, especially in the four southern provinces where Muslims are in the majority: Patani, Yala, Satun and Narathiwat. The close proximity of these provinces to Malaysia — where the Muslim majority generally empathize with the plight of their Thai brethren — accentuates the tension. Adding to this tension is the stark differences of language, ethnicity, culture and religion between Thai Muslims and other Thais throughout the more than seventy provinces nationwide. The overwhelmingly Buddhist ethos that permeates the life of the Thais, and the insistence that Muslims also follow the “Thai way”, contributed to the alienation of the local Muslim minority. Annexed and incorporated into the Thai state in 1902 under treatises signed by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and the colonial powers, the Muslims have since been struggling for their rights and identity as Muslim Thais. The King’s assimilationist and interventionist policies had sidelined the traditional role of Thai Malay rulers, whose numerous appeals to the British to help their plight were ignored, since the British were engaged in a serious rivalry with the French at that time. The signing of the AngloSiamese Treaty in 1909 exacerbated the Muslim plight since it enabled the Siamese administration to penetrate into Muslim ISLAM฀in฀SEA฀p1-94.indd฀฀฀60 2/1/08฀฀฀11:55:16฀AM Thailand฀and฀Philippines฀ 61 regions in the south. Over time, the centuries-old Muslim laws and other cultural practices were subjected to the centralized Thai legal system to the detriment of many Muslims. The military coup of 1932 that brought an end to absolute monarchy — and other coups that followed — had momentarily ushered in a mood of anticipation from the Muslims that their long suffering would come to an end. But the coming to power of the pro-assimilationist, military-trained Prime Minister, Field Marshall Phibul Songkram in 1938, quashed such hopes. In fact, Islamic law was abolished in favour of mainstream Buddhist law. Nationalist and religious (Buddhist) sentiments not only led to the renaming of Siam as Thailand in 1939 but to the subsequent establishment of the National Culture Commission. This Commission decided to impose Thai culture and identity upon all citizens, including the Muslims. What ensued was a period of Thai-Muslim antagonism, which included the Muslim rebellion under the leadership of the prominent ‘alim, Haji Sulong. However, his detention and subsequent mysterious disappearance put a check to the Muslim quest for cultural and religious autonomy in the southern provinces. Muslim-State relations saw some positive developments in the 1940s. A government decree had allowed Muslims to seek recourse to the Islamic courts in resolving their...