Unless you're a poor, working class farmer, construction worker, taxi driver, or maid from the North or Issan I don't understand how you can say that. Do they not have a vote?
As for the south, Thailand was awarded three Malaysian provinces after one of the world wars, and those provinces (Yala, Narathiwat and Patthani) have been Muslim since the Arab invasions 1500 years ago. I worked for a year with owners of small rubber plantations throughout the south, and they were all Muslim, and they all wrote Malay in Arabic script. I don't understand why Thailand hasn't given that territory and its citizens back to Malaysia, where they belong. I don't know where you get the idea Malaysia was ever a "multi-ethnic state". Since about the year 800, with a short hiatus just after WWII under British rule, it has been a collection of Islamic states. They have never treated their Indian or Chinese populations as first class citizens.
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Date: 2007-07-02 06:41 am (UTC)I don't understand how you can say that. Do they not have a vote?
As for the south, Thailand was awarded three Malaysian provinces after one of the world wars, and those provinces (Yala, Narathiwat and Patthani) have been Muslim since the Arab invasions 1500 years ago. I worked for a year with owners of small rubber plantations throughout the south, and they were all Muslim, and they all wrote Malay in Arabic script. I don't understand why Thailand hasn't given that territory and its citizens back to Malaysia, where they belong. I don't know where you get the idea Malaysia was ever a "multi-ethnic state". Since about the year 800, with a short hiatus just after WWII under British rule, it has been a collection of Islamic states. They have never treated their Indian or Chinese populations as first class citizens.