Author: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Publication: Asia Times
Date: June 26, 2003
URL: http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/EF26Ae01.html
Since the much-hyped arrest of three
Thai Muslims with alleged links to an Islamic militant group in the region,
the Muslim minority in southern Thailand has been in fear that Islamic
schools there may soon face a lesson in survival.
The Thai Muslims' worries arise
from the fact that one of the arrested men - Maisuri Haji Abdulloh - is
a religious leader and owner of an Islamic school in Nara Thiwat, one of
the five southern provinces with a large Muslim population.
Maisuri's son, Muyahi, is also among
the three taken in by the police on suspicion of having links with Jemaah
Islamiyah, a group that aims to create a pan-Islamic state in Southeast
Asia and has been classified as a terrorist organization by several governments.
A rumor that spread through some
Muslim communities in the wake of the June 10 arrests - that the Thai government
was planning a sweep through at least 10 other Islamic schools in the south
- reflected this undercurrent of concern.
The government of Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra denied having such a plan. Still, "teachers and students
in these schools are worried about what may happen next", said Nimu Makaje,
vice president of the Islamic Council in the southern province of Yala.
"We have already seen a drop in the numbers of teachers and students in
some schools."
Muslims who fund these religious
schools fear that they may be hounded, he disclosed during an interview.
"Some religious schools that receive money from the Middle East are also
afraid now."
Thai Muslims always took their religious
schools to be safe, but the current events are threatening to change this,
added an academic versed in Southeast Asian Islam, who spoke on condition
of anonymity. "The concerns are genuine, because it is making them feel
vulnerable, being treated with suspicion by the government for getting
an Islamic education."
In Satun, Nara Thiwat, Yala, Pattani
and Songkhla - the predominantly Muslim provinces in the south near Malaysia
- Islamic schools have played a vital role in sustaining the tradition
of Muslims, who are the largest minority in this mainly Buddhist nation.
There are close to 4 million Muslims out of a total population of some
61 million.
Religious education is offered through
a number of private Islamic schools, which offer both Islamic teachings
and other subjects, or a traditional school system called pondok, where
only Islamic learning occurs.
The arrest of the three men, including
Waemahadi Wae-dao, a medical doctor, took place after the authorities allegedly
learned that the Thais were planning to detonate bombs near selected Western
and Asian embassies in Bangkok and popular tourist spots in Thailand.
Bangkok had been tipped off by authorities
in Singapore, after the arrest of a Singaporean Muslim identified as the
head of Jemaah Islamiyah in the city-state. Governments in the region and
the United States accuse the group of plotting to unleash terror in Southeast
Asia.
Government officials, including
Thaksin, were quoted in the local press as saying that Arifin bin Ali,
the Singaporean, had confessed to having met the three Thais and discussed
the plot to detonate bombs during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) summit in Thailand next October.
However, the government is having
difficulty bringing charges against the accused Thai plotters, a fact that
emerged during a briefing that local intelligence officials gave on June
18 to members of the diplomatic community.
"They admitted that there is no
evidence that links the three Thais to Jemaah Islamiyah besides what Arifin
revealed," said an Asian diplomat who was present at the morning briefing.
"They also do not have information about how the bombings were to take
place other than for when it would be and where."
This chain of events is adding to
the anxiety among Muslims, said Pakorn Priyakorn, an executive committee
member of the Bangkok- based Islamic Center of Thailand. "The people want
to know what is happening, if it is true, if there is evidence about the
three arrested men."
He pointed out that a delay in clarifying
innocence or guilt will also keep alive another issue that has been catapulted
into the media glare - the type of Islam being taught in the religious
schools. Some media accounts have sounded the alarm over the influence
of the Wahhabi strand of Islam in the religious schools, including the
one run by Maisuri.
Wahhabism emerged in Saudi Arabia
in the 18th century and has since become the dominant strand of interpreting
and practicing the Islamic faith in the Saudi kingdom. It has been marked
for its austere and extremely conservative views.
But since the multiple acts of terror
in the United States on September 11, 2001, Wahhabism has been increasingly
seen as promoting intolerance and breeding Islamic militants. That arose
because of, among other reasons, most of the men involved in the September
terror attacks and the man accused by the US government of planning it,
Osama bin Laden, subscribed to Wahhabism.
However, both Pakorn and Nimu explain
that the Wahhabi influence in Thailand's religious schools does not propagate
violence. "In Thailand, Wahhabism is not considered radical. It is seen
as another discipline to be taught in schools," said Pakorn.
For decades, Thai Muslims have been
going to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt to be trained as religious teachers.
These Arab governments also help local Muslims financially - either by
offering scholarships in Islamic studies or financial aid for the religious
schools.
"But these links and the Wahhabi
presence in Thailand have been misunderstood, because of the wrong impression
given by the media," said Nium. "There has been distortion."
However, little of that surprises
him, given the negative portrayal of Muslims in the south due to the outbursts
of violence that have occurred since the 1960s by Muslim separatist groups.
"To say that we want to promote
violence is wrong," Nium said. "There is no truth about the Jemaah Islamiyah
link to the schools."
(Inter Press Service)
