Muslim Schools (Pondok) in the South of Thailand

Abstract

This paper focuses on the ponoh/pondok Muslim schools of the south of Thailand. These schools, which are traditional institutions of religious learning and places of religious piety, have experienced conflict and contestations throughout the twentieth century. Pondok have been pulled by different modernizing forces including separatist violence. The paper concludes that the contestations and negotiations with the Thai government are about the development of the local Malay people's modern civic identity within Thailand. It suggests that the introduction of a secular curriculum has had (and still has) its benefits for empowering the Malay-speaking population by supplying them with the cultural tools to contest and civically negotiate their position, culture and heritage within the Kingdom. The paper also provides a history of these schools and their political relationship to the Thai government's policies and to separatist organizations, as well as an update of events relating to the schools during the recent period of separatist and counter-separatist activities.