Word: thais
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From 1938 to 1946, roughly equivalent to the Japanese hegemony in Asia, the Thais enacted a series of laws designed to "integrate" the Malays into the Thai culture. All Malays were required to adopt Thai names as well as wear Thai dress. The Malay language was forbidden to be used in business or government, thus depriving the Malays of access to those fields...
Another rankling point is Bangkok's calling the Muslims in the south "Thai Muslims." "It's a misnomer," declares Rashai, "and one that allows the Thais to ignore the whole central issue of insurgency there." Unlike the Muslims in Bangkok, who are mostly
...Thai, the ones in the south are ethnically Malay. "It isn't just a religious problem, but a cultural one as well...
After the granting of independence to Malaysia by the British, Malay aristocrats from the Thai south appealed to the U. N. to allow them to join the Federation of Malaysia, but the new Malaysian government, faced with a "confrontation" from Indonesia and a fragile electoral division between the Chinese and Malays, disowned the irredentist movement...
What is the solution? Rashai had a single word-"autonomy." The Malaysian government doesn't want trouble with the Thais over the region, explains Rashai, so there should be no fear by the Thais that an autonomous Pattani region would join the Malaysian Federation. He feels that giving the Malays control over local affairs would not only win their loyalty, but deprive the communists of their loyal support. "The people aren't communist, or pro-Malaysia but only anti-Thai, and the Thais could rectify that situation in a few weeks by granting them a bigger voice in government...