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Co-optation and Resistance in Thailand's Muslim South: The Changing Role of Islamic Council Elections1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

Duncan McCargo
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Abstract

During times of violent conflict, states may closely scrutinize the loyalty of those who lead minority religious communities. November 2005 saw elections for Islamic councils in Thailand's three southern border provinces. The Muslim-majority subregion had experienced escalating political violence since January 2004. Allegations of electoral manipulation were rife; the elections were proxy struggles between the Thai state and potential opponents. This article positions these elections within wider debates about the nature of the relationship between Islam and the state, in Thailand and beyond. It argues that politicizing Islamic organizations may be a dangerous game for states and elite actors to play.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , 2010 , pp. 93 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2010.

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Footnotes

1

The research for this article was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, grant number RES-000-22-1344. A rather earlier version was presented as a keynote address at the workshop ‘Unravelling of Civil Society: Religion in the Making and Unmaking of the Modern World’, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 22–4 March 2006. Many thanks to Bryan Turner for that invitation.

References

2 For an example from a British context, see Rachel Briggs, Catherine Fieschi and Hanna Lownsbrough, Bringing it Home: Community-based Approaches to Counter-terrorism, London, Demos, 2006.

3 Jeff Haynes, Religion in Third World Politics, Boulder, CO, Lynne Reinner, 1994, p. 151.

4 See Werbner, Pnina, ‘Divided Loyalties, Empowered Citizenship: Muslims in Britain’, in Waller, Michael and Linklater, Andrew (eds), Political Loyalty and the Nation-state, London, Routledge, 2003, pp. 105–22Google Scholar.

5 Brown, L. Carl, Religion and State: The Muslim Approach to Politics, New York, Columbia University Press, 2000, pp. 68–75 Google Scholar.

6 See Keane, John, ‘Secularism’, in Marquand, David and Nettler, Ronald L. (eds), Religion and Democracy, Oxford, Blackwell, 2003, especially pp. 14–19 Google Scholar.

7 For classic accounts of the background and origins to the current conflict, see Pitsuwan, Surin, Islam and Malay Nationalism: A Case Study of Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand, Bangkok, Thai Khadi Research Institute, 1985 Google Scholar; and Man, Wan Kadir Che, Muslim Separatism: The Moros of Southern Philippines and the Malays of Southern Thailand, Singapore, Oxford University Press, 1990.Google Scholar

8 Fealy, Greg, ‘Islamicisation and Politics in Southeast Asia’, in Lahoud, Nelly and Johns, Anthony H. (eds), Islam in World Politics, London, Routledge, 2005, p. 167 Google Scholar.

9 Fealy, ‘Islamicisation’, p. 167.

10 David Streckfuss and Mark Templeton, ‘Human Rights and Political Reform in Thailand’, in Duncan McCargo (ed.), Reforming Thai Politics, Copenhagen, NIAS, 2002, pp. 73–90.

11 ‘Panel Probes Christian Group: Den – Irregularities in Registration’, Bangkok Post, 21 January 1999.

12 Erick White, ‘Fraudulent and Dangerous Popular Religiosity: Moral Campaigns to Prohibit, Reform and Demystify Thai Spirit Mediums’, in Andrew C. Willford and Kenneth M. George (eds), Spirited Politics: Religion and Public Life in Contemporary Southeast Asia, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Southeast Asian Program, 2005, p. 90.

13 See Yusuf, Imtiyaz, ‘Islam and Democracy in Thailand: Reforming the Office of the Chularajamontri/Shaikh Al-Islam’, Journal of Islamic Studies, 9: 2 (1998), pp. 277–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Charles F. Keyes, ‘Buddhism Fragmented: Thai Buddhism and Political Order Since the 1970s’, keynote address, Seventh International Conference on Thai Studies, Amsterdam, 4–8 July 1999; Donald K. Swearer, ‘Centre and Periphery: Buddhism and Politics in Modern Thailand’, in Ian Harris (ed.), Buddhism and Politics in Twentieth Century Asia, London, Continuum, 1999, p. 225.

15 Hefner, Robert, Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000 Google Scholar.

16 Omar Farouk Bajunid, ‘Islam, Nationalism and the Thai State’, in Wattana Sugunnasil (ed.), Dynamic Diversity in Southern Thailand, Chiang Mai, Silkworm, 2005, pp. 1–19.

17 Michel Gilquin, The Muslims of Thailand, Chiang Mai, Silkworm, 2005, pp. 19–20.

18 Ibid., pp. 39–40.

19 Interview, 25 January 2006.

20 Thirteen functions of the provincial Islamic councils are laid out in Article 26 of the Islamic Organizations Act of 1997.

21 For discussions of the violence, see several recent reports by the International Crisis Group (www.crisisgroup.org); Duncan McCargo, Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 2008; and Askew, Marc, ‘Thailand's Intractable Southern War; Policy, Insurgency and Discourse’, Contemporary Southeast Asia, 30: 2 (2008), pp. 186–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22 Interview, 25 May 2006.

23 Andrew Cornish, Whose Place is This? Malay Rubber Producers and Thai Government Officials in Yala, Bangkok, White Lotus, 1997, p. 118.

24 On Den's family and political career, see James Ockey, ‘Elections and Political Integration in the Lower South of Thailand’, in Michael J. Montesano and Patrick Jory (eds), Thai South and Malay North: Ethnic Interactions on a Plural Peninsula, Singapore, NUS Press, 2008, pp. 124–54.

25 Chalermkiat Khunthongpetch, Haji Sulong Abdun Kadir: kabot ru wiraburut haeng si jangwat phak tai (Haji Sulong Abdul Kadir: Rebel or Hero of the Four Southern Provinces), Bangkok, Matichon, 2004.

26 Den Tohmeena, Leut nua chai chua fai (My Family (Flesh) is not Behind the Southern Fires), Bangkok, Samnakngan Working Experience, 2005.

27 Conversation with Den Tohmeena, 24 November 2005.

28 See Sombat Chantornvong, Leuktang wikrit: panha lae thang ok (Elections in Crisis: Problems and Solutions), Bangkok, Kobfai, 1993; Callahan, William A. and McCargo, Duncan, ‘Vote-buying in Thailand's Northeast: The July 1995 General Election’, Asian Survey, 36: 4 (1996), pp. 376–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 On vote-canvassers, see Anyarat Chattharakul, ‘Networks of Vote-canvassers in Thai Elections: Informal Power and Money Politics’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Leeds, 2007.

30 Phichai Kaosamran, Somchaet Naksewi and Worawit Baru, Kanluaktang Pattani pi 2529 suksa korani krabuankan hasiang lae rabop hua khanaen (1986 Elections in Pattani: Case Study of the System of Campaigning and Vote-canvassing), Bangkok, Foundation for Democracy and Development Studies, 1988, p. 29.

31 Anthony Davies, ‘School System Forms the Frontline in Thailand's Southern Unrest’, Jane's Intelligence Review, November 2004, p. 14.

32 Interview, 24 November 2005.

33 Fieldnotes, 15 March 2006.

34 Interview, 24 January 2006.

35 Interview, 24 January 2006.

36 Details from a copy of a leaflet produced by the challenging team, headed ‘24.11.05’.

37 Formally speaking, the khatib was responsible for leading Friday prayers and the bilal for making the call to prayer, but in practice these roles were often interchangeable and both men were regarded as deputy or assistant imam.

38 Tadika are privately-run schools offering supplementary elementary education about Islam, mainly to children, rather like Christian ‘Sunday schools’.

39 Interview, 24 January 2006.

40 ‘Peut wisaythat prathan isalam pattani: tang wittayalai imam, dung tadika khao rabop’ (‘The Islamic Leader of Pattani's Vision: “Establishing an ‘Imam College’ and Bringing tadika into the system” ’), Sun Khao Issara (Issara News Centre), 1 December 2005, at www.tjanews.org/cms.

41 For a relevant discussion, see McCargo, Duncan, ‘Thai Politics as Reality TV’, Journal of Asian Studies, 68: 1 (2009), pp. 7–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

42 Interview, 24 January 2006.

43 ‘Kanmuang saek katleuk kammakan isalam’ (‘Political Interference in the Islam Council Elections’), Sun Khao Issara (Issara News Centre), 24 November 2005, at www.tjanews.org/cms.

44 Interview, 24 January 2006.

45 Interview, 24 January 2006.

46 Interview, 6 January 2006.

47 Interview, 24 January 2006.

48 Interview, 6 March 2006.

49 Conversation, 7 March 2006.

50 ‘Wikrit khropkhrua kansuksa satsana sam teumpanha faitai’ (‘Crises in the Family, Education and Religion Worsen the Situation of Violence in the South’), Sun Khao Issara (Issara News Centre), 22 November 2005, at www.tjanews.org/cms.

51 Interview, 21 February 2006.

52 Conversation notes, 15 March 2006.

53 Conversation notes, 7 March 2006.

54 Interview, 3 December 2005.

55 Abdul Rahman Abdul Shamat interview, 7 June 2006.

56 Interview, 25 January 2006.

57 ‘Wat radap khluenkanmuang sanam leuktang kammakan isalam’ (‘Measuring the Political Involvement of the Islam Council Elections’), Sun Khao Issara (Issara News Centre), 20 November 2005, at www.tjanews.org/cms.

58 Interviews, 7 December 2005, 3 March 2006; conversation, 15 March 2006.

59 Interview, 7 December 2005.

60 ‘Wadah song sanyan kanmuang saek onkon isalam’ (‘Wadah Gives a Signal of Political Interference in Islamic Councils’), Sun Khao Issara (Issara News Centre), 27 November 2005, at www.tjanews.org/cms.

61 ‘Samruat leuktangkammakan isalam sam jangwat tai’ (‘Scrutinizing the Islam Committee Elections in the Three Southern Border Provinces’), Sun Khao Issara (Issara News Centre), 24 November 2005, at www.tjanews.org/cms.

62 Interview, 21 February 2005.

63 The Pattani president stressed that he still respected Den, who had been close to his father. Interview, 1 September 2006.

64 Den has accused Pichet of using ‘an enormous amount of money’ to secure election to this position, including having ‘bought’ the Pattani chairman with a million-baht bribe. He stated that he no longer has anything to do with Waeueramae. Interviews, 12 and 22 August 2006.

65 Interview, 1 September 2006.