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Utilizing Islamic Religious Education as a Peacebuilding
Tool: A Case Study of Southern Thailand
From Washington to Islamabad, there has been renewed
interest in the nexus between terrorism and Islamic
religious education. Yet most articles, including a
previous article in Global Politics, say little about
how Islamic education can ameliorate conflict, rather
than exacerbate or promote it. The Southern Thailand
insurgency, one of Asia’s deadliest ongoing conflicts,
offers a model of how religious education can be used as
a peacebuilding tool.
By Prashanth Parameswaran
Missing lessons
Islamic religious education is fundamental to
understanding the Southern Thailand insurgency, which is
currently one of the most violent conflicts in the Asian
continent. Far from mere educational conduits, Southern
Islamic religious institutions have historically
served as key markers of Malay-Muslim identity, breeders
of future community leaders, and centres for separatist
recruitment efforts. This makes education arguably the
most crucial aspect of the ongoing insurgency.
Most scholarship regarding Islamic religious education
in the world in general and Southern Thailand in
particular focuses either on the peripheral nexus
between radical Islam and terrorism, or the failed
string of government initiatives that paved the way for
frayed educational institutions. For the Southern
insurgency, this trend has been true for various agents
– from NGO reports, ‘terrorism scholar’ literature and
journalism coverage. [1] Existing scholarship thus
focuses on the conflictual aspects of Islamic religious
education and sees it as part of the problem, rather
than the solution to conflict.
This article challenges conventional wisdom by
suggesting that Islamic religious education can be the
solution by facilitating peace efforts or yielding
cooperative outcomes. Using fieldwork, interviews and
research conducted in Bangkok and the Southern provinces
of Nakhorn Si Thammarat, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and
Songkla, it will begin by analysing the structure of
Islamic religious education in the region.
Thereafter, it will examine the current problems with
the education system, focusing on the government’s
myopic “national security” paradigm and ethnopolitical
disputes between Buddhists and Muslims. It will then
look at how various local, national, and regional
approaches that are often overlooked or ignored are
helping to increase cooperation in the field of
education in general and Islamic education in
particular.
The state of education today
From their historical status as the independent kingdom
of Pattani to being annexed as Thailand’s peripheral
provinces, the three southernmost provinces’ Islamic
religious education system revolved around one major
institution: the traditional pondok. After succumbing to
government assimilationist policies, the traditional
pondok underwent a forced transformation into private
Islamic schools in the latter 20th century,
and have since competed with government schools for the
hearts and minds of the Malay Muslim populace.
The current structure of education in Southern Thailand
is made up of four types of institutions: tadikas,
traditional pondoks (Pusat Pendidikan Pondok),
government or state schools, and private Islamic schools
(Sekolah Agama Rakyat). A traditional pondok is an
institute where students of all ages and abilities
gather informally to study a mix of religious and
secular education, choosing their specialisms and
supervisors. [2] Of the 500 traditional pondoks that
exist, only about half are registered and officially
recognised by the government. A tadika is a pre-school
attached to the local mosque where children can learn
religious education at the elementary level.
Private Islamic schools, which are mostly (and oddly)
financed by the government, are the result of an earlier
government campaign to modernise traditional pondoks.
These “modern pondoks” number more than 300, and are
forced to offer a balanced religious and secular
education that complies with government standards in
order to continue receiving full federal funding.
Unlike traditional pondoks, the private Islamic schools
have a stronger secular education and operate within a
more formal and government-controlled framework.
Although they were mostly confined to secondary
education initially, many are now extending down to
primary school to get more students – creating
“extended” Islamic private schools. [3] The government
schools previously taught entirely with a Thai
ethnocentric curriculum, but have recently made
allowances for Malay Muslims.
Government law requires every Thai citizen to complete
nine years of compulsory education – six years in
elementary (P1-P6), and three years in upper secondary
(M1-M3). [4] The average Malay Muslim youth, from age
5-12, can attend a government school or an extended
private Islamic school (a private Islamic school that
has both elementary and secondary education), while
spending his or her first few years at a tadika to
enhance religious education.
Subsequently, from age 12-17, he or she can continue at
a government school at the secondary level or choose a
normal private Islamic school. Generally speaking, three
quarters of Malay Muslims in the south attend private
Islamic schools, while only a quarter attend government
schools. [5] The reason has as much to do with the lack
of focus on religious education in state schools as it
does on the mentality of Malay Muslims which tends to
view government institutions with suspicion and as an
assault on their language and culture. [6]
From 18 years on, students have the option of going to
university. However, a 2001 survey found that only 3pc
of Buddhists and Muslims in the deep South had a
university education. [7] While pondok education can be
taken at any point of a student’s life, interest in the
pondok system is declining with time. One 1999 study in
the South showed that only 25pc of parents wanted to
send their children to a pondok, because of its weak
secular curriculum that lowered their children’s job
prospects. [8]
Not without its problems
The current primary problem with Southern Thailand in
general and Islamic religious education in particular is
that both are often viewed through the myopic lens of
national security. Since it acquired the provinces, the
Thai state has only been involved in Southern
socioeconomic development when it feels the region
constitutes a national security threat – resulting in
alternating periods of neglect and heavy-handed
crackdowns. Islamic religious education is only a
concern when resistance movements flare up or “radical
links” to the Middle East cement.
Every education expert, teacher, or local government
official in the southern provinces contends that the
government should try to win the goodwill of Southern
people by basing development on academic achievement or
genuine assistance, rather than basing aid on levels of
violence. [9]
The second issue is that of identity politics and the
politics of demonisation that has imperilled the Thai
Buddhist and Malay Muslim communities. The perception
among a large majority of Buddhists seems to be that the
Muslims in the South are backward and disloyal to the
Thai state because of their relative economic
deprivation and secessionist campaign.
Muslims are inclined to view Buddhists as immoral,
contaminated colonisers because of their primacy in the
secular realm and their infringement of Muslim cultural
autonomy. [10]
The ethnopolitical disputes preclude cooperation in
fields like education. Malay Muslim scholars contend
that the Thai government will never understand Islamic
religious education because of their inherent
immorality: they view education solely as a way to
prosperity, while Muslims see it as a source of morality
and guidance. [11] Similarly, Buddhist teachers and
scholars argue that Muslims have an irrational tendency
to view all government educational handouts as
instruments of colonialism, despite the government’s
beneficent intentions.
The last problem is that related to resources and
representation. For instance, although Malay Muslims
constitute the majority in the three southernmost
provinces, there is only one Muslim representative in
the Thai Education Ministry for all three provinces, and
Muslims only constitute 30pc of education subcommittees.
The Office of Education does not even have any
particular body to monitor private Islamic schools
because no resources have been dedicated to training
officials in Islamic affairs. The grave problem is
summarised by government census figures that, in 2000,
showed that 70pc of Malay Muslims in Southern Thailand
had only a primary school education. [12]
A
little less confrontation: the case of the Southern
Thailand Peace Network
In
response to the lack of national peace and inter-ethnic
conflict management mechanisms and the prevalence of
conflict-based worldviews in Southern Thailand, five
universities in three Southern provinces founded the
Southern Thailand Peace Network (STPN). [13] STPN aims
to inject peace views through inter-university
cooperation in curriculum development, research, peace
advocacy and capacity building – using peace education
as a means to bring together Buddhist and Muslim
communities currently fraught with fractious identity
politics.
At
the centre of this admirable effort is a renowned
Islamic higher education institution – Yala Islamic
University (YIU). YIU has previously been accused by the
Thai government of contributing to the insurgency with
recruits and cash from the Middle East, but it is now an
active STPN participant. Interestingly, YIU is working
on an integrative educational curriculum, which all its
3,000 students will take beginning this year, and which
combines Western and Islamic peace and conflict
management.
The idea is to prove that Islam can be compatible with
modernity without losing its morality, a main source of
tension between Buddhists and Muslims. In addition to
local efforts, YIU is looking to work with the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) and the United States Institute of
Peace (UNIP) to promote cross-educational linkages in
peace techniques, reconciliation and peace theory. [14]
Change of mindset
While the ‘national security mindset’ of the security
forces and the Thai government persists and obstructs
cooperative outcomes in fields like education, national
efforts are beginning to turn this around. These
initiatives are important since they will help create a
more conducive environment where Islamic religious
education can be used as a peace-building tool. One
example of this is the recent “peace journalism”
campaign mounted by government leaders, media groups and
civil society leaders in southern Thailand. [15]
Before the peace journalism campaign, the Thai media
focused mainly on the “cycle of violence with a
sensational crime story-type approach”, widening
distrust, perpetuating a climate of fear, and damaging
ethnic relations. Most Thais thus believed that Malay
Muslims were a national security threat, rebellious, and
disloyal citizens which needed the most severe
punishment. One alarming poll involving 1,154 Thais
conducted in October 2005, for instance, showed that
more than 60pc of respondents believed lack of
patriotism was the motive for the insurgency, and more
than 50pc agreed that perpetrators thus deserved
extrajudicial execution. [16]
However, the Issra News Centre has substantially
improved reporting on the conflict on the national
level, because it has included more diverse local
perspectives and less conflict-related stories. The
Centre is now regarded as the prime source of “unbiased
news” on Southern Thailand, and its location in Patani
province, the centre of the insurgency, makes its
reporting even more authoritative compared to many other
news organizations who rely on one or two stringers.
The Centre’s website explores several dimensions of the
conflict beyond national security, including economic
development, education and social justice. While the
jury is still out on Issra as a whole, accounts at the
time of this publication argue that the peace journalism
perspective has broadened the national security outlook
of the government and citizenry alike.
A
Regional Pondok Fund: a source of relief?
A
popular criticism of government policy with regard to
the Thai insurgency is that it either invests too few
resources or allocates them poorly. In order to get past
the resource scarcity or poor funding-allocation in the
southern provinces, future ASEAN Secretary-General Surin
Pitsuwan has suggested that a regional or global fund be
established for Islamic religious institutes in Southern
Thailand. [17]
The funding initiative would be instrumental in
increasing the quality of Islamic education in Southern
Thailand, which would in turn boost employment and
generate goodwill and eventual peace. Firstly, owners
and students of traditional pondoks are bitter about why
pondok graduates cannot even obtain a certificate
equivalent to those accepted by the Thai general
education system. The fund could be used to give
financial aid and scholarship opportunities to graduates
of registered, legal pondoks so they do not become
jobless wanderers. A student’s choice of a home-schooled
education should not deny him any opportunities.
But, from a wider perspective, the regional or global
pondok fund would bankroll several innovative ASEAN or
world initiatives that could boost Islamic education in
Thailand’s restive south. For instance, Islamic
organisations from Indonesia, the world’s most populous
Muslim nation, who have signalled their willingness to
help train and teach in southern Thailand and offer Thai
Muslim scholarships, will be happy to find capital for
their endeavours. [18]
In
addition, available funding will also provide exciting
prospects for Thailand-Malaysia educational exchanges
after the signing on 21st August 2007 of a
Memorandum of Understanding between both education
ministers. Potential initiatives include Malaysian
assistance in Islamic subjects for improving government
schools in the South – which are often criticised by
Malay Muslims. [19] There is no doubt that other
governments with their own Islamic issues might want a
part in funding or promoting such exchanges, from China
to Pakistan to the United States.
Reaching an educated resolution
Thus, despite the tendency to equate Islamic religious
education with insurgency and violence, it would perhaps
be wiser to look at various local, national and regional
approaches that may create an environment conducive for,
facilitate, or even adopt Islamic religious education as
a peacebuilding tool. The case of Southern Thailand
certainly shows that cooperative outcomes are enhanced
through this process.
References
[1] For examples of each of the categories, see: (a)
NGOs – online reports by Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch; (b) Terrorism Expert Literature – the book
“Conflict and Terrorism in Southern Thailand”, Marshall
Cavendish Press, 2005, and articles by terrorism
scholars like Zachary Abuza and India’s former
intelligence officer B. Raman; (c) Journalism (online
and print) – Wire services include Agence France Press (AFP),
Reuters and Associated Press (AP), other news
organizations such as but not limited to British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Cable News Network (CNN)
and International Herald Tribune (IHT).
[2] For a more detailed description of the pondoks, see:
Madmarn, Hasan. The Pondok and the Madrasah in Patani. (Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia Press, 1999).
[3] Interview with Ibrahim Naringraksakat, assistant
professor and director of the College of Islamic
Studies, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani. (June
2007).
[4] Interview with Ahmad Somboon Bualuang, former member
of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), a
Muslim academic and director of the Center for Muslim
and Democratic Development in Southern Thailand. (July
2007)
[5] Interview, Srisompob Jitpiromsri, political science
professor at Prince of Songkla University, Pattani.
(June 2007).
[6] Gunaratna, Rohan, Arabinda Acharya and Sabrina Chua.
Conflict and Terrorism in Southern Thailand. (Marshall
Cavendish Academic. 2005), pp. 46-53.
[7] Interview, Ahmad Somboon Bualuang, (July 2007).
[8]Janchitfah, Supara. Violence in the Mist: Reporting
on the Presence of Pain in Southern Thailand. (Kobfai
Publishing Project, 2004), p. 56.
[9]Various Interviews with local administration
officials, teachers and scholars in Pattani (June-July
2007)
[10] These characterizations are based on interviews
conducted in Narathiwat, Pattani, Songkla, Nakhon Sri
Thammarat and Bangkok, and were confirmed by interviews
with scholars (May-July 2007). For a taste of Buddhist
characterizations of Muslims, see Marddent, Amporn. From
Adek to Mo’ji: Identities and Social Realities of the
Southern Thai People, (Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia,
2006). Available Online: http://kyotoreviewsea.org/images/images/pdffiles/Amporn_final2.pdf
. To get the Muslim perspective, look for Apornsuvan,
Thanet, as seen in: Yusuf, Imtiyaz. Understanding
Conflict and Approaching Peace in Southern Thailand. (Konrad
Adenauer Stiftung, 2006), pg. 101.
[11] Interviews with the principal of Darunsatwittaya
School, a private Islamic school in Pattani, Dr. Worawit
Baru, professor at Prince of Songkla University, Dr.
Ahmad Somboon Bualuang, Dr. Ibrahim Naringraksakat
(May-July 2007).
[12] Srisompob Jitpiromsri, as seen in: McCargo, Duncan
(ed). Rethinking Thailand’s Southern Violence. (NUS
Press, 2007), p. 98.
[13] STPN thus far includes Prince of Songkla University
(Pattani), Prince of Songkla University (Hat Yai),
Thaksin University (Songkla), Hat Yai University (Hat
Yai), and Yala Islamic College (Pattani).
[14] Interview with Shukree Langputeh, dean of social
science at Yala Islamic College, (July 2007); speech
delivered by Shukree Langputeh at the International
Seminar on Peacebuilding from Various Experiences, (7
July 2007), organized by the College of Islamic Studies,
Prince of Songkla University, Pattani.
[15] For an idea of how the campaign started, see:
Bangkok Post. “THAILAND: Senator says, media ‘must do
more’. Asia Media. 6 December 2005. Available Online:
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=35008.
[16] Kanwerayotin, Supapohn. Peace Journalism in
Thailand: Case Study of the Issara News Center of the
Thai Journalists Association. (Chulalongkorn University,
Masters Thesis 2006), Introduction.
[17] Interview with ASEAN Secretary General designate
Surin Pitsuwan, see also: Parameswaran, Prashanth.
“Equitable schooling vital for deep South”. The Nation.
1 June 2007. Available online: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/07/01/opinion/opinion_30038828.php.
[18] Khalik, Abbul and Slamet Susanto. “RI to help solve
religious conflict in restive southern Thai provinces”.
Jakarta Post. 14 August 2007. Available Online: http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20070814.B09.
[19]TNA News. “Thailand, Malaysia, sign agreement on
educational exchanges”. TNA News. 21 Aug 2007. Available
online: http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=31179.
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