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Thai Muslims have long complained of discrimination in jobs, education and business opportunities. |
PATTANI, Thailand — The Thai government should come to terms that Muslims in the south have an identity of their own but want to be seen as part and parcel of the society and not like second-class citizens, experts said Sunday, September 17.
"The Thai government doesn't recognize Malay Muslims as an ethnic identity,'' Sukree Langputeh, a Thai political scientist told Reuters.
"They want you to say you are Thai, both ethnically and nationally. This is the real problem."
If the state would accept Muslim citizens as equals, he said, the rebellion in the south would weaken and might eventually collapse.
Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country with Muslims making up five percent of the population and mostly live in the five southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are the only Muslim-majority provinces in Thailand and were an independent Muslim sultanate until annexed a century ago.
Language and culture are emotive issues in the south. Muslims want Malay an official language and to replace the Buddhist-centric school curriculum with one less hostile to Muslim sensitivities.
Worshippers at Pattani's 500-year-old Krue Se mosque say the solution is simply keep the state's hands off Islam.
"I don't want non-Muslims interfering with our faith,'' said preacher Salee Le-hanu.
Root Cause
Analysts say the government should address the root cause of the problem in the south and set aside fears of "national security" if it wants peace and stability to prevail in the restive south.
"If the Thai government had realized there would be problems for the next hundred years, they wouldn't have acted this way," Sukree said.
"Don't look at the incidents, look at the roots, the real causes,'' he said. Otherwise, the conflict will only spread and one day spiral out of control."
The region's plight has drawn the attention of Muslims worldwide. But yet the government insists to marginalize the crisis, away from outside interference, pundits say.
Francesca Lawe-Davies of the International Crisis Group (ICG) consultancy says the nature of the conflict is changing and could one day break out of its narrow confines.
The ICG had said in an earlier report that the Thai government failure to address injustices done to Muslims and open a genuine dialogue with Muslim leaders is the real reason behind the south's unrest.
Muslims in the south have long complained of discrimination in jobs, education and business opportunities.
Several international and local rights groups have also condemned the government's heavy-handed policy in the south.
In January, Amnesty International urged the government to investigate abuses by security forces in the Muslim south.
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