Southern Thailand Malay Region

The modern provinces of Southern Thailand have a very Malay past. The backwater province of Satun and its northern neighbor, Trang used to be, in antiquity, part of the Kedah Sultanate until progressive Siamese campaigns claimed those territories.

The name of the province of Songkhla was a Thai corruption of the name Singgora, an old Malay tributary state which was once part of Langkasuka and then part of Nakhon Si Thammarat. This is where the largest city of the region is located, Hat Yai. No doubt a favourite destination for many Malaysians.

The old Malay state of Patani actually consisted of three modern day Thai provinces Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. In fact Malaysian state of Kelantan was a tributary of Patani, until the British pried them from Siamese claws.

These three provinces is the epicenter of the Southern Thailand insurgency. All three provinces have the highest proportions of Malay people of any province in Thailand. If autonomy or independence is granted, it is likely to be based on these three states.

Today, Songkhla is almost as Thai as Bangkok, a successful result of Thai assimilation policies. However some eastern districts are largely Malay populated and share the same aspirations of Patani.

The Satun Malays on the other hand, while small in number retain as much Malay culture as they can, but are not as inclined towards separatism or militancy as their Patani counterparts. A lot of Thai-Malay intermarriages reflect this.

Thailand would not give up Patani easily. Such a large acreage, with offshore oil to boot, would be a better target for Thai transmigration, if not for the insurgency.

Southern Thailand Insurgency: 1Malaysia Perspective

Since the end of the World War II, Patani insurgents in South Thailand have been carrying out attacks for what is presumably independence in the 3 Thai provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala. But in 2005, the previously safe city of Hat Yai or Haadyai in the neighbouring Songkhla province was bombed. On March 31, 2012, a bomb went off in a Hat Yai hotel, at least 5 were killed including a Malaysian. But despite that Hat Yai remains a really popular Thai destination for many Malaysians and Singaporeans. This war is hitting closer to home.


The rebel groups are numerous, at least 5 major ones and unknown number of fractions. These guerrilla groups are driven by discrimination against ethnic-Malay Muslims by successive Thai governments. They presumably fight for either an independent state of their own or for autonomy.

In a previous article, I compiled a brief history of an ancient state called Patani. I would surmise that Thailand is still an empire – not yet a country. They continue to subjugate the racial minorities and legacy tributary kingdoms, dismantled them even and vehemently push for their assimilation.

The National Language: Thai

Only one official language is allowed and encouraged. The languages of other minorities especially the Malay are not supported by the state. There are no newspapers in any language other than Thai or English.

1 Malaysia Values

Malaysia’s route to nationalism is starkly different. It is one of integration. All languages are allowed, they are taught in schools, spoken on the streets, allowed to be published. For example there are over 10 Tamil dailies to serve a community that constitutes only 8% of the whole Malaysia. The national language is used predominantly in official government business. What happens is that many Malaysians are forced to be multilingual.

On the Flipside

There are definitely problems communicating if when community members don’t interact outside their own. Not everyone can speak the national language well. Also the government tries to control content in whatever language, as much as it can.

Cultural assimilation

The Thais impose a single culture on all citizens, central Chao Phraya Thai culture. They managed to assimilate the Chinese, Lao and Khmer but not the Malays in the Deep South. Everyone has to adopt a Thai name.

1 Malaysia Values

All communities get to keep their own culture no matter how small your community is. Malaysian values give rise to a dual identity of race and nationality. Citizens are usually identified as Malaysian Malay, Malaysian Chinese etc. Each community can relish and uphold individual cultures and practices without the oppression from the state.

On the Flipside

A clash of civilizations happens on a daily basis. Lots of understanding and tolerance needed to keep the peace. Moreover the Malays are very protective of their distinct Malay Muslim culture, minorities have to thread carefully around issues pertaining to Islam especially.

National Religion

Thailand is 95% Buddhist. Today Thailand is accepting of all religions but in the mid of last century, the Muslim minority were ill-treated mostly because of ignorance.

1 Malaysia Values

Everyone is allowed to practice their own religion but Islam is the national religion. Understanding each other’s religion fosters peace and harmony.

On the Flipside

Minority religions are subtly being oppressed while Muslims have no freedom of religion at all. Local Muslims’ viewpoint is insular and the government is over protective of the followers.

Education

Government policy uses education to promote the Thai language and Buddhism and the key role of Buddhist monks. Teachers are not local Malay and they instruct their students to identify themselves as Thai Muslims rather than Malay Muslims. The traditional Malay pondok schools are viewed with suspicion and are not well-funded by the central government.

1 Malaysia Values

In Malaysia, there are schools of every type, religious schools, Chinese schools, Tamil schools. With enough community backing, citizens are sure to get an education of their choosing in the language of their choosing.

On the Flipside

Missionary schools have been abolished and with it English medium schools. The quality of education at national schools is dropping behind. 

Malaysia does not have a region engulfed in conflict, so no comparisons can be drawn between Malaysia and Thailand. But now recent prime ministers including Yingluck Shinatwatra’s policy in the Thailand’s Deep South is to fight violence with violence and force. Taking a page out of China’s policy with Tibet, the Thai government had also tried migrating ethnic Thais into the Malay provinces, but since insurgents started killing monks and policemen and Thai people indiscriminately, this strategy has effectively been impeded. Past leaders have promised to bring greater economic development on the assumption that poverty is part of the problem although this has never come to fruition.

The Thais have got it all wrong. It’s not about development, and it’s definitely not counter insurgence that will quell the uprising. The Malays in Southern Thailand yearn for the sense of identity, that their history would not be supplanted with the Thai’s. I think they would like some cultural and language liberties that Malaysians unappreciatively enjoy. 

To the majority of Thais, there cannot be Thai Malays (like Malaysian Chinese). That is very thing that the majority of Thailand even the King cannot accept. They don’t mind the term Thai Muslim, but being Muslim and being Malay are two separate things. 

But how do you curb this raging insurgency, blind hate and careless measures? All piecemeal symbolic measures would be ineffective. It took a tsunami to end the rebellion in Acheh province, Indonesia. East Timor needed independence for their fighting to end. I reckon it has to be something big. In my mind, only two solutions exist, autonomy or independence, excluding the vagaries of Mother Nature of course. 

Autonomy opponents may cite Southern Philippines as an example of autonomy gone wrong. Although autonomy was granted since 1990, fighting still continues in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. How can it be different in Southern Thailand? For one, the local population must have its own political representation. Islam and the Malay language must be somehow interwoven into the regional government. Local leaders should have control over land, economy, natural resources and maybe even immigration. 

The alternative is of course independence. But it would be increasingly difficult for a relatively politically stable country like Thailand to give up a large portion of their land especially with the imperial mindset at play. (Indonesia was politically weak at the time of Timor Leste’s independence.)To complicate matters, there is oil off the coast of Patani. The chance of independence being granted for 2 million Malay people versus 70 million Thais in total is slim indeed.

The situation is seemingly dire in Malaysia’s neighboring region to the north. Malaysians are sympathetic towards the plight of the Thai Malays but at the same time are hapless, as the Malaysians cannot intervene. History is still unfolding in the restive southern Thailand. We can only hope for the best.

Olympic Opening Ceremonies: London vs Beijing

I know many of you may disagree, but I think that London’s 2012 Olympic opening ceremony is better than then Beijing’s 2008 opening ceremony. Both had the same idea in mind though, to showcase each nation’s accomplishments and contributions to the world. However, it’s notable that Britain stayed clear from reminding the world that it used to conquer half of it.


China’s opening ceremony was awe inspiring. You get the sense of grandeur amid a very oriental setting. Undoubtedly China exploited it’s most abundant resource; its people. At the heart of all its creative showcases were actually humans frolicking around in the enormous bird nest stadium. They actually employed soldiers to run their clock-like precision performances. It’s everything a communist nation can be proud of; synchronized, uniformed, innumerable.


Fast forward to London, each participant seems to be an actor. Even the children know how to perform. Their dancing may not be militarily synchronized in motion, but they were synchronized in seemingly genuine smiles and spirit. In fact they emphasized fun like one large flash mob.


China’s repertoire was written to impress, one dazzling display after another. And it did just that. They focused on the length and breadth of the Chinese civilization and the four great inventions of the ancient Chinese: paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder.


The British attempted to do the same, start off with history and showcase their contributions to the world. However since a major part of their history involves many storied wars of the British Empire which was a naval powerhouse and master colonialist, they risk offending almost everyone who is not British. Hence, their summation on British history seems disjointed and incomplete.


We are left with scenes from ancient English village with farm animals and maypoles, the industrial revolution which Britain initiated, socialized medicine, and more recent cultural exports. The English village and industrial revolution scenes were evocative with Hollywood quality costumes and every bit as impressive as Beijing.


From Harry’s Potter’s stadium tall Voldemort battling an army of Mary Poppins to a brief appearance of Mr. Bean, the English flaunted their greatest cultural exports. And did you know the creator of the World Wide Web is British? And at times they tried to do too much. I adore British music, but in one sequence, they sampled a line from each song from the 1950s to 1980s and played it in one long annoying grating medley. That is undoubtedly everyone’s least favourite sequence.


And saving the best surprise for last is the torch lighting ceremony, where in recent years everyone tried to one up the predecessor. When the countries were parading into the stadium, each was carrying a weird horn like sculpture. There wasn’t an obvious cauldron in sight, but in the center of the stadium, these horns were mysteriously installed onto some spiky contraption. After the torch bearer lit a few horns, the spikes began to mechanically rotate towards the sky forming a most unanticipated cauldron. Spectacular. (Sydney is best though)

The cauldron is made up of many small torches.

But negatives aside, the British version of the opening ceremony is unexpected, exciting and most importantly fun. The dancing was real, the spirit seemed authentic and London doesn’t care about taking itself too seriously (Beijing). And that’s why I think London is better than Beijing.

Spider-Man Reboot

I’m going to keep this brief, and separate this into things I like and things I dislike about the new Spider-Man reboot. Keep in mind; I’m not an avid comic book fan.


Like 1: Andrew Garfield’s acting. 

He knows it as much as the next person. This is the role of his lifetime. And with that in mind he acted his socks off. I noticed him trying to create a unique Peter Parker, not unlike what Johnny Depp did with Captain Jack Sparrow. Every second Andrew is on the screen, he steals it (except when Emma Stone is there). Comparing with the under emoted, dopey Tobey Maguire’s Spider-man, Andrew’s Spider-Man is so much more charismatic and dramatic. You think he had never missed a single acting class. In a nutshell, Andrew blew his predecessor away easily, acting wise.


Like 2: Emma Stone

Forget Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts, Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane; Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy is the superhero’s girlfriend I want. For non-Spider-Man comic readers, the blond bombshell Gwen Stacy is Peter Parker’s first love, before they snuffed out her character midway. The striking thing about Emma Stone is not her beauty; it’s her kick ass personality (as seen as the survivor in Zombieland) and that sensual maturity (as seen in Easy A). But here in Spider-man, she is accessible.


Like 3: The Grittier but not necessarily Darker Style

This new incarnation is Spider-Man’s supposed equivalent to Batman’s ‘The Dark Knight’, if the teasers and trailers were anything to go by. Unfortunately, on the darkness meter, it measures somewhere between Thor and Ghost Rider, basically a slight shade darker than the first Spider-Man. Well, they tried, they failed, but this is no Dark Knight. The grittiness here is mostly derived from Andrew doing most of his own stunts, more green screens and less CG.


Like 4: The Romance

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man has the iconic upside down kiss; this one has such no iconic four play tactics. But on the other hand, the kissing scenes are steamier than your average sauna. And now the word on the street is that Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are now dating. One wonders how much actual romance makes it to screen.

Like 5: More Green Screen, Less CG

While Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man web slinging was 100% CG, this new one tries more stunts and green screens, which translates to more realistic whizzing action scenes.

Dislike 1: Casting of Andrew Garfield 
Andrew is six feet tall. Andrew is 28 years old. Andrew is also skinny as a rake. Apparently his wiry body type isn’t suitable for beefing up, trainer and actor both gave up and sourced inspiration from Bruce Lee. Despite his talented portrayal of the nerdy web slinger, he’s just not buff enough for a superhero role of today, visually.


Dislike 2: Spidey Costume
The reds are wrong. The blues are wrong. I don’t mind it being ugly if because they designed a suit that an above average high school kid can put together. Not only is it ugly, it looks like it came from the labs of NASA. That is so NOT spandex. Why does it have to be so scaly?


Dislike 3: Cheesy Scene

I got a taste of cheese, and it ain’t from my popcorn. Granted, this Spider-Man reboot only features one cheese worthy scene while its predecessors were curdling in it. It’s the one where all the crane operators line up the crane booms to allow Spider-Man quick passage to Oscorp tower, which leads me to the next point:


Dislike 4: Formulaic Plot

Sony Studios was clearly in charge. They brought together no name directors, no name actors and no one that could stand up against them. The plot itself was clearly written by the execs. While Peter Parker’s and Gwen Stacy’s characters were a breath of fresh air, the villain, ‘The Lizard’s’ character development was to me, run of the mill.


Dislike 5: Spider-Man wise cracks

In the heat of action, Spider-man, once nerdy teenager, is now a wise cracking masked vigilante. Problem is it sounds weird on the big screen.


Dislike 6: Spider-Man Fiction Deviations

I’m not sure if these are plot goofs or plot holes, but some of them interfere with what makes Spider-Man so special.

1) Bitten by a Spider

In Sam Raimi’s Spider-man, there were a handful of genetically modified spiders. One spider got away and bit Peter. In this one, Oscorp was already mass producing genetically modified spiders. There seems to be thousands of them, easily accessible and yet none of them have bitten any of Oscorp staff. But only when Peter stumbles upon them, they bite and he becomes Spider-Man? Logic be gone.

2) Webbings

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man made Peter Parker a biological mutant. He developed webbing glands on his wrists. The original comics depicted Peter as a genius developing his own sticky substance in his garage laboratory. This movie is even weirder. The mass produced genetically modified spiders were bred by Oscorp to produce industrial strength ‘Bio-Cable’ packaged in tiny cartridges. This new Peter Parker steals a boxful of these cartridges and merely devises a way to squirt out the liquid bio-cable which presumably forms into webbing upon ejection. Let’s be clear, this spider man uses commercially sold products for webbings.

3) Peter Parker’s Camera

Peter has an old film camera. I find this confusing as the producers said they wanted to give this version a modern take. Why give Peter Parker a cell phone but not a DSLR? Heck, using his phone’s camera would be more convenient.

If you like Spider-Man and its myth, it is worth a ticket. Its fresh depiction of the two romantic leads is a welcome change but it’s still mired in superhero movie contrivances. 8/10.

Phonetic Differences between Standard Mandarin (普通话Pǔtōnghuà) and Malaysian-Singaporean Mandarin (花语Huāyǔ)

The idea for this piece came about because while I’m taking Mandarin language courses from a Chinese cultural centre from mainland China, I live in Malaysia where the majority of local Chinese are schooled and brought up speaking Huayu, the local Malaysian dialect of Mandarin. There are differences such as the usage of certain words, grammatical deviations and even the pronunciation differences for many phonemes.


History had a hand in determining the variation in Malaysian/Singaporean Mandarin. First of all, when the Chinese settled in then Malaya in the 19th century, none of them were native speakers of the Mandarin dialect. Only when the Republic of China formed, the Chinese in Malaya gained a sense of Chinese nationalism towards the mainland. Mandarin was adopted as the Chinese people’s unifying language to be taught in local Chinese schools in Malaya, mirroring developments in China.


However, since the Malaysian Chinese were in a foreign land, they were heavily influenced by their original dialects (like Hokkien and Cantonese) as well as Malay and English. This was exacerbated when the Communists took over China and implemented a closed door policy. The cultural link to China had been all but severed. Hence, the local variety of Mandarin was free to evolve on its own.


Personally, if I were creating a new universal language, it would sound nothing like Mandarin. The problems that I have with Mandarin, as do so many people in the world have, are that so many consonants sound so similar. I compiled a list that compares between Standard Mandarin, what Malaysians think they know about Mandarin and how Malaysian Mandarin speakers really sound like. This is following my exasperating attempt to make sense of all the indecipherable chatter I hear.


Understanding of the pinyin system is needed to understanding the following list. In addition, there are a few concepts to introduce for the table to make sense:

*Aspirated means that a strong puff of air accompanies the consonant when it is sounded. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, you can hold a tissue up to your mouth. The tissue flutters with aspirated consonants while it doesn’t flutter with unaspirated ones.

Fricatives	Affricate
Consonant sounds produced by forcing air through a narrow channel in the mouth. In English s (sing) and z (zoom) are examples.	Consonants sounds that comprise of two stages. First, vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. Next, that restriction is loosened a little, while air is blown, resulting in a frication sound. In English, j (juice) and ch (choose) are examples.

Tongue Position	Description
Blade-alveolar	Roll up the tip of the tongue (blade) against the bony ridge behind the front teeth at the top of the mouth (alveolar ridge)
Blade-palatal	Roll up the tip of the tongue (blade) against the centre of the roof of the mouth (hard palate).
Palatal	The tip of the tongue is pressed against the back of the lower teeth, the rest of the tongue is against the roof of the mouth (hard palate)

The Phonetic/Pronunciation Differences between Standard Mandarin and Malaysian Mandarin

Initial Consonant	Standard Mandarin(普通话Pǔtōnghuà)	Malaysian Mandarin(花语Huāyǔ)	Malaysian Mandarin(Fast & Lazy Speech)
ch	Blade-palatal position, aspirated, affricate. Sounds not too dissimilar from the English ‘ch’	Very much like the English ‘ch’. Malaysians do not grasp concept of aspiration	Same as left
zh	Blade-palatal position, unaspirated, affricate. Has slight buzzing quality to sound.	Sound similar to Standard Mandarin, but tongue not rolled back enough.	Very much like the English ‘ch’.
sh	Blade-palatal position, fricative. Sounds similar to English ‘sh’ but with tongue rolled up	Very much like the English ‘sh’.	Sound like the English ‘s’.
c	Blade-alveolar position, aspirated, affricate.	Very much like the English ‘ch’.	Same as left
z	Blade-alveolar position, unaspirated, affricate. Has slight buzzing quality to sound.	Same as left	Very much like the English ‘ch’.
x	Palatal position, fricative. Not too dissimilar from the English ‘sh’	Sound like the English ‘s’.	Same as left
q	Palatal position, aspirated, affricate. Pursed lips help the aspiration process.	Same as left	Very much like the English ‘ch’.
j	Palatal position, unaspirated, affricate	Same as left	Same as left
s	Blade-alveolar position, fricative.	Same as left	Same as left

Malaysians narrow down the number of consonants when they speak fast. Five distinct consonants end up sounding like the English ‘ch’. Mandarin uses a lot of aspiration as a means to differentiate between different consonants. That’s an issue when people speak fast because no one can produce that puff of air in such short time. Aspirated consonants therefore sound unaspirated.

A good resource: ChinesePod 

Mandarin is so hard. Cantonese is a walk in the park by comparison. Just watch Hong Kong dramas/movies, and you’re speaking like the locals. For Mandarin, it’s been a hundred years and we still couldn’t get it. For me personally, I find that the written characters much easier than spoken Mandarin despite the number of characters to remember.

Brave – More Disney than Pixar

With the exception of the Cars franchise, I look forward to Pixar movies. Brave however seemed like a typical Disney princess movie. But instead of ending like one, Brave is widely campaigned as being different. I however feel that it should have had a Disney ending, since there are so many Disney elements in it already.

Brave is set in Scotland, in an unknown era. It tells of a kingdom’s princess choosing a suitor for her betrothal. And as you’ve guessed, the princess rebels against her insisting mother and refuses to marry prematurely. My main contention is that a Pixar movie of the past would have dealt with the issues in this story with more depth, gravity and seriousness. In Brave, a bear bites off the King’s leg, and all we hear are jokes and light hearted moments about it. The evil wicked witch was more comic relief than a character.


True, as a guy, the premise of girl power wasn’t intended for me, but to be totally disengaged? Sure the jokes were funny, but clearly Brave lacks the character development Pixar is so adept at. In fact there were categorically only two adequately developed characters, Princess Merida and her Queen mother, and no one else.


I can’t rate this on behalf of women and adolescent girls, but this is a no-go for male cartoon fans. 3/10. I wish Disney would stop meddling in Pixar’s strong suits.

Initiative: An Abused Word

Initiative. n. The power or ability to begin or to follow through energetically with a plan or task; enterprise and determination.

It's such a positive word. But in the workplace, I've only seen it used negatively. Too many "they should take the initiative" or  so and so "... lacks initiative". It doesn't happen to me, but I've sympathized with many a victim. It's the boss's lazy way of saying, 'You should do more work'. I hope that in time this word could become productive and supportive again.