New Mandala readers in Canberra may be interested in Friday’s seminar on “The Crisis in Southern Thailand: Cultural Policy, Gender Issues and Reconciliation Prospects” The seminar will be held Friday May 11, 2007 9.30-11am in Seminar Room D, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (Coombs Building), The Australian National University. I will attend and write a brief summary post. Here is the announcement:
Currently, the Muslim-majority provinces of Southern Thailand are embroiled in one of Southeast Asia’s most violent conflicts. Formally incorporated into Thailand early last century, the area has been the centre of prolonged conflict for many years. Recently, conflict has become more intense. Over 2000 lives have been lost in the last three years, and there are now dangers of sectarian conflict between Muslims and Buddhists. There are many forces working to resolve southern problems – officials, NGOs, academics, and the National Reconciliation Commission (2005-2006) which last year issued recommendations for a change in government policies (including adopting Malay as a working language). Members of the visiting delegation are well-placed to report on these efforts and evaluate prospects for overcoming the violence.
Delegation members are:
Assistant Professor Dr Worawit Baru, from Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani and a member of the National Reconciliation Commission. He is a frequent commentator on events in the South, with a particular interest in language policy, politics, and government policy.
Assistant Professor Arin Sa-idi, from Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus, and the founder of the Friends of Women group which helps victims of the southern violence.
Mr Waeyusoh Samaalee, a distinguished former public servant. He served in the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre as a cultural officer. He has compiled a dictionary on Thai-local Malay terms, and he is involved in bilingual curriculum design which is being piloted in the South of Thailand. He is also involved in PUSAKA, an educational foundation that supports the educational activities of Tadika (informal schools for young Muslim children). He is also President of the Muslim Business Association of Pattani.
Mr Tanate Adulyakij is Director of the Ministry of Culture, Pattani Office. He is the first Muslim director of the Provincial Ministry of Culture in Pattani.
Mrs Suphacha Somsong is a cultural officer from the provincial office who is currently involved in data collection on Malay culture.
The delegation is sponsored by the Australia-Thailand Institute, and their visit co-ordinated by La Trobe University, the Thai National Studies Centre, ANU and the University of Technology, Sydney.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Srithanonchai // May 8, 2007 at 8:35 pm
BTW: Marc Askew’s report has just been published by the East-West Center in Washington. No free PDF download yet.
Conspiracy, Politics, and a Disorderly Border: The Struggle to Comprehend Insurgency in Thailand’s Deep South Conspiracy, Politics, and a Disorderly Border: The Struggle to Comprehend Insurgency in Thailand’s Deep South
by Marc Askew
Policy Studies, No. 29 (Southeast Asia)
Binding: paper
Pages: xii, 100
Publisher: Singapore: ISEAS Publishing; Washington, D.C.: East-West Center Washington
Publish Date: 2007
Available From: Amazon.com and Institute for Southeast Asian Studies
ISBN: 978-981-230-464-3
Abstract
This study examines a number of themes underlying the struggle to identify the character and causes of the violence engulfing southern Thailand’s border provinces since 2004. It begins by outlining key representations of the southern problem in Thailand. Then, drawing on little-used Thai-language documentation, and on interviews and field study, this monograph focuses on three topics. First, it addresses the prominence of a number of conspiracy theories claiming that killings and bombings have been engineered, in whole or in part, by vested interest groups rather than by ideologically inspired separatists. Conspiratorial models are a dominant feature of explanations of conflict in Thailand. The study argues that the circulation of conspiracy speculation brings into relief the tangible reality of the labyrinthine and disorderly borderland, which is a major problem requiring attention that has long been deferred by Thailand’s governments. Second, the monograph focuses on some problematic arguments claiming that Thaksin Shinawatra’s dissolution of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center in 2002 paved the way for the current insurgency, and holds that the SBPAC and previous governments failed in the previous decade to detect an emerging new network-based militancy. Third, it discusses the political uses of the southern crisis by the opposition Democrat Party, which was able to preserve its electoral base in the south by demonizing Thaksin as the key cause of the turbulence. The study argues that representations of the southern crisis have been inherently political, and that the major reality needing attention is the complexity and vulnerability of a disorderly, contested, and neglected borderland.
2 Sawarin // May 8, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Looking at the names of panellists I can guess the direction of their argument. I’ll be waiting to read a balanced report from New Mandala.
3 wsp // May 10, 2007 at 7:06 pm
I agree, Sawarin.
You may recieve the static data from them!!!!!!!
4 nganadeeleg // May 13, 2007 at 10:38 am
New Mandala readers may be interested in this excellent site:
Richard Humphries: “Shrouded Insurgency” is a long term personal project documenting the daily lives of Southern Thailand’s Muslim population as is struggles to deal with a violent Islamic Insurgency.
http://www.digitalrailroad.net/richpix/Production/PhotoGroupView.aspx?pbid=4&msa=1&pgid=1923391
5 New Mandala » Sticking to the southern script // May 14, 2007 at 3:58 pm
[...] is the question that was left hanging in the air at last weeks ANU-hosted seminar on “The Crisis in Southern Thailand: Cultural Policy, Gender Issues and Reconciliation Prospects” As the title suggests, the discussion was primarily on cultural issues. Considerable [...]
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