NORTHERN MUSLIMS CULTIVATE MODERATE IMAGE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHIANG MAI 000117 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR ECA/PE, ECA/A, IIP/G/EAP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PNAT PHUM KPAO OEXC OIIP TH SUBJECT: NORTHERN MUSLIMS CULTIVATE MODERATE IMAGE REF: A) CHIANG MAI 71 B) CHIANG MAI 67 (05) CHIANG MAI 00000117 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) Summary: With 17 mosques and the largest percentage of Muslims outside of Thailand's southern provinces, Chiang Mai is regarded as a model of inter-cultural harmony. One important element is a Provincial Islamic Committee (PIC) that cultivates a moderate, scholarly image and works closely with local authorities. Representatives of this ethnically diverse community take every opportunity to ask the Consulate for exchange programs, English teachers, and speakers. End summary ¶2. (U) The Muslim community in northern Thailand has been firmly established for over a century, with the first arrivals probably Bengali cattle traders as early as 1830, followed by traders from China's Yunnan province. Northern Muslims today are a multi-ethnic group descended from these migrants plus later arrivals from China, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma, Malaysia and southern Thailand. All of these groups adhere to Sunni beliefs and practices. ¶3. (SBU) Estimates of the actual number of Muslims in Chiang Mai province vary widely. The lowest estimate of 30,000 comes from the Provincial Islamic Committee, which is consistent with its efforts to keep a low profile. A local police source puts the number at 45,000 in a province of 1.6 million. A recent newspaper report used 60,000. Another Muslim contact claims that adding unregistered Muslims could bring the actual total to around 100,000, or 6-8 percent of the population. Unregistered Muslims would include groups such as illegal Burmese migrants, undocumented Yunannese migrants, and southerners drawn north by a stable environment, good climate, business opportunities, and abundant large mosques. Local Muslim roots lie in China, South Asia -------------- ¶4. (U) Mosques in the northern-most areas of this region (Fang, Mae Sai) are ethnically Yunnanese while in the western area around Mae Sariang (ref a),most Muslims are of South Asian origin. Chiang Mai combines both: the former President of Chiang Mai's Provincial Islamic Council (PIC),Imam Mustafa Hassan, is the son of a Bangladeshi merchant while the present chairman, Palangkul Wong-luekiat, is the grandson of a caravan trader from the Kunming area. ¶5. (SBU) An increasing number of southern Thais reportedly are moving into the region, drawn by a stable environment, good climate, business opportunities, and abundant large mosques. Many local Islamic leaders are active in the trade and tourism sectors; they recognize that peace and stability are important business assets. During July, substantial groups of Middle Eastern tourists are visible in town and at selected hotels; tourism statistics for 2004 and 2005 show that approximately 3-4% of foreign visitors came from the Middle East. Chiang Mai also hosts a Turkish-run academically competitive Thai-English bilingual school, Wichai Wittaya, with a 25 percent Muslim student population. (ref b) Muslim speakers prove popular -------------- ¶6. (U) The Consulate enjoys good relations with the PIC, which co-hosted Public Affairs-sponsored U.S. Muslim speakers in July 2005 and 2006. Both programs drew Chiang Mai audiences of almost 200; this year's speaker, Thai-American Imam Rahmat Phyakul from Al-Fatiha Mosque in Los Angeles, took the show on the road to Doi Angkhang, Fang, Mae Salong, and Mae Sai, attracting 150-200 enthusiastic participants at each stop. The PIC also assisted the Consulate in reaching out to the Muslim community of Mae Sariang, in Mae Hong Son province; we subsequently selected the Imam of the Mae Sariang mosque for an International Visitor program on religious and ethnic diversity. ¶7. (SBU) Both Muslim leaders and local officials, including police and military, are alert to any possibility that southern tensions could spread to the north. Reports of visitors delivering "jihadist" sermons at local mosques six months ago as well as a controversy over elections to the PIC last November drew official, albeit discrete, attention. There are no indications that radical sentiments have found a foothold in the north. ¶8. (SBU) Although a majority of Muslims in rural areas are poor farmers with little education, their city cousins include many with an internationalist outlook. The Consul General met Pam Kannaporn Akrapisan, special program coordinator at Payap University's International Affairs Department, when she interpreted for the 2005 Muslim speaker program. Kannaporn studied at Western Michigan covers her head, eats halal food, CHIANG MAI 00000117 002.2 OF 002 and is agitating for a Muslim prayer room at Payap, a Christian institution. ¶9. (U) Concerned by anti-Muslim comments she overheard in a Chiang Mai book store one day, Kannaporn wrote an impassioned letter last year to both English-language papers in Bangkok. Her article asked Muslims to "set a good example and show society what we are really about". She also told the head of government "you are going the wrong way" and suggested sending educated Islamic gurus to the south rather than "troupes of movie stars and celebrities." ¶10. (SBU) Kannaporn told the CG how important it is to show young Thai Muslims that Muslims in the US can go to mosque, eat halal food, and get religious education. She praised the Department's publication on "Muslim Life in America" and urged that the Consulate host more speaker programs and offer youth exchanges. Why is it hard for Muslims to get visas? -------------- 11.(U) Audiences at Imam Rahmat's four programs in northern Thailand drove home the desire for U.S. help in improving educational opportunities for their children. At the conclusion of the final presentation in the border town of Mae Sai, the mosque leader called the Consul General to the microphone to answer three questions: what will the U.S. do to assist exchanges, can the U.S. send English teachers to the community, and why is it so hard for Muslims to get visas? Fortunately an AFS student applicant - a high school girl who had been selected to introduce the Imam in English -- presented one route to the goals that the mosque leader presented. ¶12. (u) Comment: Chiang Mai's well-integrated Muslim community offers a moderate Muslim model for the area. The recent northern tour by Thai-speaking American Imam Rahmat showed widespread interest in even rural communities about how Muslims live, work, eat, and practice their religion in the U.S. Greater U.S. Government attention via exchange programs would pay dividends in Thailand and the region in demonstrating the values of an ecumenical, locally relevant Islam that lives side by side with other religions. SIGNATURE