CO04032 | The Pondok Schools of Southern Thailand: Bastion of Islamic Education or Hotbed of Militancy?

In the 1930s and 1940s, attempts were made by the government of Phibun Songgkram to assimilate the Malay-Muslim community into Thai society by changing the medium of Pondok education from Malay-Arabic to Thai. These policies sparked an immediate reaction from the Malay-Muslim community, which viewed them as a threat to their identity and way of life. Consequently, rather than transforming into channels of national consciousness envisaged by the government, Pondok schools were mobilized to disseminate ideas of Pan- Malay nationalism and Islamic revivalism.

Similarly, policies of later Thai governments to transform Pondok schools to private institutions eligible for state funding but subject to government regulation were met with resistance. Such policies of the Sarit Thanarat administration towards Pondok schools in the early 1960s laid the ground for two decades of separatist violence, with Pondok schools choosing to disband themselves and move underground rather than be absorbed into the Thai education system.

Aside from cultivating separatism and the mushrooming of a host of underground religious institutions, another critical consequence of forced assimilation policies was that it impelled many potential Pondok students to pursue religious education overseas, primarily in the Middle East and South Asia. Furthermore, up to 85% of Muslim students from southern Thailand studying overseas are believed to be sponsored by their host institutions. Returning students nourish the Pondok system by proceeding to establish their own schools in various Kampung, with some registering as little as three to four students.

Thaksin’s Pondok “policy”

Today, there are more than 500 Pondok operating in southern Thailand, but only about 300 of them are registered with state authorities. It is no secret that the Thai government suspects that some of these traditional schools are fostering religious extremism and harbouring militants. About 30 of these 500 are suspected to be preaching violence in the name of Islam.

Since the January 2004 resurgence of violence in the south, government security forces have instituted regular searches of various Pondok, particularly in Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala. These raids however, are increasingly undertaken without warning, and are viewed as violations of their religio-cultural space by the Muslim community.

The government has also revived attempts to register these schools in order to regulate Pondok education. Yet given the arbitrary way by which Pondok schools are created, this policy is proving increasingly difficult to implement. Moreover, many Pondok have gone underground for fear that registration will encourage further government incursion into Muslim education, and through that into Malay-Muslim society. On the other hand, government funding to the Pondok system remains paltry, a mere fraction of the budget allocation for southern provinces.

Of greater concern though, is the belief among the Malay-Muslims of the south that since the 28 April 2004 massacre at the Krisek Mosque, the government has pursued a policy of abducting and murdering Tok Guru suspected of teaching separatism and violence. This perception, fuelled by the fact that several Pondok teachers have gone missing since 28 April, only serves to further fan the climate of suspicion and distrust in the south.