Language and Educational Policies:

Improving Ethnic Relations in the South of Thailand

Gothom Arya

14 AUGUST 2015
The resurgence of violence in the border
provinces of southern Thailand started with the
attack of a military camp of Joh-I-Rong district,
Narathiwat province on January 4, 2004. By the
year 2015, more than 5,000 people had perished
in this violent and protracted social conf lict.
I would like to call the ideology behind the
insurgency local patriotism with the aim of
achieving an independent state.This ideology
is not new but seems to have occurred in the
past rather naturally in many places at different
times.
Fre e dom of re l i g ion i s g u a r a nt e e d a nd
practiced in Thailand and there is no religious
conf lict as such in the South (although local
patriotism is often strengthened by religious
sentiment). Moreover, it is firmly believed that
Islam is a religion of peace. However, being
Malay is often identified with being Muslim and
Malay groups in their militancy do not hesitate
to use religious sentiment to win over the local
population to their cause. So, we need to look
at the possible grievances stemming from the
perception that patriotism is not respected and
the Melayu language and religious teachings are
not adequately offered by the Thai state. This
article will touch on the issues, specifically,
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language policy and the teaching in schools of

Islam in the South.

The need for a sound language policy

According to Mahidol Universitys Institute
of L a n g u a g e a nd Cu lt u re i n A si a , out of
t he 1.1 m i l l ion people of T ha i la nds t h ree
southernmost provinces, 0.9 million or around
82 per cent speak Melayu thin Thai as their
mother tongue (the local dialect), and around
0.3 per cent speak various minority languages
such as Chinese, Ulaklavoey and Mogen. The
Thai speakers there can be sub-divided into
Paktai (11 per cent), Takbai (6 per cent), Thai
K lang (1 per cent) and Isan (0.3 per cent)
speakers. But if we look at the languages spoken
in contemporary Thailand, the Tai family of
languages is spoken by the vast majority with 87
per cent in this group, whereas the local Melayu
or Melayu thin Thai is spoken by just 1.9 per
cent. Percentage-wise, this f igure is slightly
lower than that of the Northern Khmer spoken
in Thailands northeast provinces of Surin,
Srisaket, and Buriram, etc.
A doctora l ca nd idate f rom G eorgetown
Un i ve r s it y i n t h e Un it e d S t at e s c a m e t o
i nter v iew me for her d isser t at ion, a nd we

discussed among other things the problem of

language in the border provinces of the South.
Two weeks later, I was pleasantly surprised to
receive a book she sent me as a gift. The title is
Fighting Words: Language Policy and Ethnic
Relations in Asia, edited by Michael E. Brown
and Sumit Ganguly (MIT Press, 2003). I would
recommend it to the attention of policy makers,
especially those who are in charge of education
and security policies. The book tells us in short
that to solve ethnic conflict such as the one in
the Thailands Deep South, we need a sound
language policy. Let me now present some of
the data and ideas in the book.
In the nineteenth century, people speaking
standard Thai constituted no more than 15 per
cent of the total population. Nowadays, more
than 90 per cent can speak, read and write
in standard Thai. With the great success in
developing a national language, I would argue
that the countrys leaders should now make a
critical effort to preserve linguistic diversity.

Language is an important issue in any ethnic

conflict. It is the main marker determining the
membership in an ethnic group and this means
that the loss of language identity is tantamount
to the loss of ethnicity. Language policy has
tremendous effects on education, the economy,
and politics. It can determine who has a better
chance to succeed in school, who has greater
opportunities in economic advancement, who
has a greater say in political decisions, who has
better access to public services and who is fairly
t reated by government agencies. Lang uage
issues, like religious issues, can be the driving
forces behind ethnic mobilization against the
established order that might be perceived as
unjust.
There are many examples pointing to the
failure of language policies in the region. At the
time of its independence, Urdu was spoken by
7 per cent of the population in Pakistan, while
Bengalis and Sindhis constituted 56 per cent
and 12 per cent respectively. Clearly, the choice
of Urdu as the national language favored some
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groups and alienated others. The language issue

was the main driving force behind the secession
of East Pak ista n a nd t he establ ish ment of
Bangladesh.
A language policy that favors the majority
ca n be a pol it ica l pl at for m to easi ly sway
voters in elections. A case in point is Sri Lanka
where a Sinhalese party, proposing Singala as
the only official language, won a competitive
election precisely thanks to that policy whose
implementation led to Tamil grievances and
eventually to the fight for an independent Tamil
state. A n u nsou nd lang uage pol icy to ga i n
short-term electoral advantage can become a
long-term disaster for the country.
T he st r ug gle for power at t he cent re of
the country during the post-independent era
of Burma dominated the struggle for power
between the centre and the nationality groups
in the periphery. As a result, the elites at the
centre took it for granted that the promotion
of the Burmese language as a national language
would forge a national identity and problems in
the periphery would eventually subside. Many
ethnic minority groups however resented the
Burmanisation campaign and started armed
struggles. A lthough many groups have now
signed cease-f ire agreements with the junta
who ren a med t he cou nt r y Mya n ma r a nd
propagated the fantasy of the cultural unity of
the Myanmar peoples, many ethnic minority
g roups st i l l dema nd a federa l state, if not
autonomous states of their own.
In India, the nat ional lang uage issue has
been handled with sensitivity and the creation
of states with certain language homogeneity
has helped to diffuse some ethnic problems.
Si ngapores leadersh ip had t he v ision of a
multicultural society. Although more than 75
per cent of the population have Chinese as their
mother tongue, Bahasa Malaysia is accepted
as a national language and English as the de
facto official language. The language policy
in Singapore has been successful at least in
creating stability and the sense of fairness.
In the South of Thailand, the study of the
Ma lay lang uage is barely offered i n publ ic
secondary schools and the language is seen
as inherently suspect by Thai authorities. It
is about time that a sound language policy is

developed if we want to have a harmonious

mu lt iet h n ic soc iet y i n t he sout her n-most
provinces.

A small group of Muslim boys attend religious school session to read

Koran in a local mosque in Thailands Deep South.

Basic Education to Suit Local Needs

in the Deep South
Both for the respect of local culture and
to ma x i m i ze pupi ls lea r n i n g outcomes, I
wou ld l i ke to propose t he i nt roduct ion of
bilingual education in Thailands Southernmost provinces. Children should start learning
basic skills in reading and writing as well as
basic subjects, such as mathematics and social
science in their mother tongue: in this case
Melay u thin Thai. Later on, the knowledge
and sk i l ls acqu ired in t heir mot her tong ue
would be smoothly transferred and further
developed using the national language. In fact,
rather unofficially and on the encouragement
of parents, pupils are already learning four
languages: Thai, standard Malay, English and
Arabic (for Al-Quran reading). Parents also tell
children to learn Islam both in Pondok schools,
say i n t he even i ng, and i n Tad ika schools,
during weekends. Obviously, the demands on
children are very high and many are too tired to
achieve satisfactory results.
One can also observe that the recruitment
for state schools has considerably dropped
while private Islamic-cum-regular schools are
full to the brim. For me, I see two emerging
issues in this tendency. First, as the pupils in
Islamic-cum-regular schools are all Muslim, the
schooling of Islamic and Buddhist members
of t h e s a m e c o m m u n i t y i s n o w d i v i d e d
along religious lines. Student friendship and
harmonious mingling will be more difficult,
resulting in the longer run, into more separation
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than integration based on unity of the nation.

Secondly, parents are facing a dilemma: on the
one hand, they want their children to have the
best schooling, such as the one provided by the
best public schools elsewhere in the country,
but on the other hand, they want their children
to have more Islamic studies than what is being
provided in public schools in the South, but
perhaps less Islamic studies than what is being
provided in private schools. For many, t he
private schools may not offer the best solution
but they are still better than public schools as
far as their religious needs are concerned.
T here is clear room for i mprovement i n
publ ic school i n g i n t he border prov i nces
of sout her n T ha i l a nd. T h is needs to t a ke
place, not with the purpose of reducing the
importance of private schools that continue to
serve many, but in the spirit of offering options
to ser ve diversif ied needs and in providing
quality education in a fair competitive setting.
In fact, educat ion should be pupil-centered
so that it allows students to learn effectively
on the academic side, and also have fulfilling
extracurricular activities.

Boys and girls are learning English in a public school in Thailand.

In t he past , compla i nts have been made

about publ ic schools insensit iv it y towards
Islam, such as the non-separation of cooking
facilities and personnel for children, the dress
code for female teachers and pupils, and the
mixed seating for male and female pupils in
classrooms. Such complaints can be redressed,
and in fact, I think they have more or less
subsided. It is, however, more d iff icu lt to
change t he att it ude of teachers and school
administrators to be more open minded towards
local needs. Only with the respect of diversity
and dignity of different cultures, the education
reform would then bear the expected fruits of
harmony and quality of schooling.

I would like to make the following proposals,

more for the sake of further discussion than
offering any ready-made answers. To cope with
bot h rel ig ious and lang uage requ i rements,
school ing shou ld be spread over six days a
week with the clear understanding with the
parents that, with their needs being responded
to, they will let their childrens Sundays be for
recreation only.
Primary public schools should teach three
languages: Thai (using Melayu thin Thai as
the medium of instruction at the beginning),
standard Ma lay and Engl ish. In secondar y
schools, the learning and teaching of the Arabic
language should be optional.
The learning and teaching of Islam should be
either on Saturday or at the end of each school
day. In this manner, non-Islamic pupils would
have the option to study their own religion
or do other act ivit ies at home during these
hours. Private Islamic-cum-reg u lar schools
are providing a rather extensive curriculum in
Islamic studies, occupying up to half of school
hours. Public schools need not do that much
but enough to cover the main subject matter,
enough needed to form a person that is a good
Muslim. I learnt that there are four important
subjects that need to be taught: Tauhid (Unity
of G o d ), F i q h ( R e l i g iou s P r a c t i c e s), A l Quran, and Hadith ( Prophets words). I am
sure that Islamic scholars can help develop a
good curriculum that is up to the standard of
schooling in other Islamic countries.

What steps should be taken?

I t h i n k we shou ld f u r t her d iscuss t hese
ideas until a public policy might emerge. There
should be consultation with parents, Islamic
scholars and educational experts, to encourage
them to reach an overarching consensus that
would be open enough for future development,
and the different curricula that need to evolve.
Pilot projects could be launched to confirm
hypothesis and evaluate pupils achievement.
Flexibility should be ingrained in the learning
and teaching schedule, and modern teaching
methods, materials, and learning styles should
be deployed. Most importantly, teachers should
be open to ch a n g e a nd pa r t ic ipate i n t he
process of change. In fact, the whole process
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should be designed with all aspects carefully

thought through, i.e. education management,
rules and regulations, how to prevent influential
people from diverting the reform for their own
purposes, how to make the reform transparent,
and how to ensure fair competition, etc.
In summar y, publ ic schools in the South
should address t wo particular local aspects:
the teaching of language and religion. These
two aspects are closely linked to the identity of
the local people. To respond to local needs in
education is one of the fundamental steps that
must be addressed as the Deep South moves
forward on the road of reconciliation.
Gothom Arya
Associate Prof. Dr. Gothom Arya is currently
an advisor to the Institute of Human R ights
and Peace Studies, Mahidol University. He is a
reputable scholar and peace activist who, since
2004, has been ver y act ive in transforming
various conflicts in Thai society, including the
Southern Unrest.