Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06CHIANGMAI161
2006-09-27 04:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Chiang Mai
Cable title:  

IRAQ IS ABOUT OIL, THAI ISLAMIC OFFICIAL TELLS NORTHERN

Tags:  PGOV PINR OIIP OEXC TH 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1301
PP RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0161 2700412
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 270412Z SEP 06
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0282
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0555
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 0320
C O N F I D E N T I A L CHIANG MAI 000161 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/27/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINR OIIP OEXC TH
SUBJECT: IRAQ IS ABOUT OIL, THAI ISLAMIC OFFICIAL TELLS NORTHERN
MUSLIM LEADERS

CLASSIFIED BY: Beatrice Camp , Consul General, Consulate Chiang
Mai, State.
REASON: 1.4 (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L CHIANG MAI 000161

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/27/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINR OIIP OEXC TH
SUBJECT: IRAQ IS ABOUT OIL, THAI ISLAMIC OFFICIAL TELLS NORTHERN
MUSLIM LEADERS

CLASSIFIED BY: Beatrice Camp , Consul General, Consulate Chiang
Mai, State.
REASON: 1.4 (d)


1. (C) Summary. Thailand's highest ranking Islamic official
told northern Muslim leaders at a recent gathering that the U.S.
invaded "Iraq because of oil; Iran is because of oil." In his
remarks, the 91-year old Chularajamontri also praised the royal
family, criticized the Pope and blamed the Jews. End summary


2. (U) Muslim leaders gathered in Chiang Mai Sept. 16-17 for
an annual seminar, with the Consul General and Consulate
political specialist invited for the opening ceremony presided
over by Sawat Sumalayasak, appointed to the position of
Chularajamontri, or State Counselor for Thai Islamic affairs,
six years ago by the King. The invitation to the U.S.
Government representatives was a sign of the long-standing good
relations between the Consulate and the Chiang Mai Provincial
Islamic Council (PIC),most recently strengthened by a Public
Affairs-sponsored Islamic speaker program and post's nomination
of an Imam from Mae Sariang for the International Visitor
Program.


3. (U) According to former Chiang Mai PIC chairman Imam
Mustafa Hassan, the 87 attendees included executive committee
members from the Provincial Islamic Committees of Chiang Mai,
Chiang Rai and Tak, the three northern provinces with large
enough Muslim populations to support such committees, as well as
representatives from mosques from most of the 17 northern
provinces. Similar seminars are held annually in all regions.
Intended to strengthen the relationship between the government
sector and the country's Muslim community, these seminars are
funded by the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Culture's
Department of Religion Affairs.


4. (C) In his Sept. 16 remarks opening the seminar, the
Chularajamontri, who is regarded as the spiritual leader of all
Thai Muslims and chief functionary of the Islamic religious
system in Thailand, discussed Islamic principles and political
aspects of global development. He began by praising the royal
family's dedication to duty in the goal of national unity as a
model for Muslims to emulate. The Chularajamontri described
himself as saddened by the Pope's recent remarks linking Islam
with violence, noting that the remarks could easily lead to
further misunderstanding between religious communities that are
already in conflict. He continued by stating that the U.S.
invasion of Iraq and "imminent invasion" of Iran are "because
of oil", adding "excuse me" in an apparent nod to the presence
of the Consul General. He blamed the U.S. actions on Jews and
concluded that Islam is the religion that can guarantee peace.


5. (SBU) Before becoming Thailand's national Islamic spiritual
leader in 2000, Chularajamontri Sawat was a teacher at Bangkok's
Islamic College in Bangkok and a politician at both municipal
and national levels, serving as a Bangkok MP with the Democrat
Party in the 1970s. Appointed by the King for life, Sawat is
not universally popular throughout Thailand's Muslim community,
especially in the south. In recent months, a group in Bangkok
has demanded his resignation on the grounds of irregularities in
halal administration. Pramarn Mooktaree, Chiang Mai PIC
representative on the national Central Islamic Committee (CIC),
dismissed the charges as personal attacks trumped up by losing
candidates in the CIC election. Some Internet bloggers claimed
the campaign to remove him was being engineered by the Thai Rak
Thai party, at least partly because of Sawat's Democrat Party
affiliation.


6. (C) Comment: The Chularajamontri delivered his anti-U.S.,
anti-Semitic comments in a gentle, non-strident way; the
audience, almost exclusively men wearing yellow shirts
signifying loyalty to the King, listened in the same polite
manner. Following the ceremony he chatted briefly with the
VIPs, including Thai government officials and the Consul
General, before departing. Both the low-key delivery and
reaction suggested that the sentiments expressed were nothing
out of the ordinary in the local Muslim community

CAMP