Looking Within - What's Behind Thailand's Buddhist-Muslim Divide - South China Morning Post

Looking within: what’s behind Thailand’s Buddhist-Muslim divide? ... https://www.scmp.com/print/week-asia/society/article/2139389/lookin...
SCMP.COM
Southeast Asia
Looking within: what’s behind

Thailand’s Buddhist-Muslim
divide?
A Thai monk re�ects on separatist violence in the
country’s restive south
Topic | Thailand
Karim Raslan
Published: 10:30am, 29 Mar,
2018
1 of 8 08/09/2019, 18:36
Before he was Phra Visuddho, he was Pisut Aungsupalee. In Thai “Pisut”

means “purity”. When his master, Phra Upaseno ordained him as a monk,
he took the Pali equivalent, “Visuddho”. Pali is the language of Buddhist
texts.
Born in Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown district, Pisut – who is Chinese-

Thai – grew up helping his parents run their fruit shop on weekends. “If I
needed to open the shop, then I would wake up at six in the morning.”
The long hours tending his parents’ shop fed Pisut’s young mind.
Observing people come and go, he wondered what made them smile or
frown.
“When I was nine I already thought about what it means to be happy. This
is why I eventually wanted to become a monk, to understand happiness –
not physical but eternal.”
At the age of twelve, he and his family moved to Nonthaburi Province in

the countryside.
“Bangkok was dense and polluted, whereas Nonthaburi had forests. The air
was fresh and it was not crowded.”
Even then, Pisut would drive back to Bangkok on weekends with his father
to tend to the family business.
“I would wake up really early in the morning. This helped me prepare for
life as a monk. As a monk I wake up before six for bintabaht.”
2 of 8 08/09/2019, 18:36
Monks usually start their day with

bintabaht, the collection of food alms –
Phra Visuddho doesn’t go a day without it.
Photo: Hezril Azmin
Bintabaht is the collection of alms that make up a monk’s meal. “Before

noon, I can eat. Afterwards, I can only drink water or juice.” Bintabaht isn’t
a daily obligation for monks, but Phra Visuddho does not go a day without
it.
In his last year of secondary school, Pisut made up his mind to study
sociology.
“I wanted to study ourselves – as human beings – and about life.”
He ended up at Kasetsart University in Bangkok.
Then, when Pisut was twenty-two, his elder brother temporarily became a
monk. Such short-term ordinations are considered a rite of passage for
young Buddhist Thai men.
He returned to work at the fruit shop after forty-�ve days.
“Actually, he wanted to be a monk forever. But my family had di�erent

ideas about life. In the Chinese tradition, one of the sons has to take care of
the parents.”
“So, when I was twenty-three, I told my mother I too wanted to become a

monk. She said, ‘OK. You can be ordained, but just for two weeks … it’s good
enough.’”
WATCH: Blast kills one, wounds 30 in southern Thailand
Pisut was not satis�ed with such a short period. He rejected his mother’s
o�er.
3 of 8 08/09/2019, 18:36
“Since I did not become a monk then, I went to England to pursue my

Master’s degree in sociology. I was still curious about the idea of living.”
Then, his father fell into a coma after battling liver cancer for six years.
Pisut promptly returned to Bangkok. After 10 days of remaining
unconscious, his father passed away.
His father’s death changed his perspective on life. Twenty-three-year-old

Pisut revisited his dream of monkhood, perplexed by the nature of
mortality.
“If I had waited for the right time, it wasn’t going to happen. It was now or
never.”
Phra Visuddho is a resident monk at the Golden Mount Temple in Bangkok’s Pom Prap
Sattru Phai District. Photo: Hezril Azmin
4 of 8 08/09/2019, 18:36
Today, the 36-year-old is a resident monk at Wat Saket, the Golden Mount
Temple in Bangkok.
Phra Visuddho sees the con�ict in the South as the biggest challenge to
Thailand and indeed his faith. His views are – unsurprisingly –
conservative.
“Whenever I hear news about the violence, I always associate the

perpetrators with Muslims who want to push their agenda through
extreme means. Many Muslims support the insurgents. It is di�cult to
solve.”
On a recent trip to Leeds to improve his English, he remembers being

approached by a Middle Eastern Muslim in a public library. “Where is Lord
Buddha?” the man jeered.
“He made fun of my sa�ron robe because I was a monk,” Visuddho recalls.
Although he maintains that he feels no resentment towards Muslims, the

Bangkok-born monk inadvertently reveals a key Southeast Asian fault-
line – between Buddhism and Islam.
The monk o�ers an immediate step he believes that the Thai government
should take to solve the issue: “They should make Buddhism the o�cial
religion.”
Phra Visuddho isn’t the only one in favour of a move that could precipitate
disastrous consequences for the South. Demands to institute Buddhism as
the state religion in the constitution have already been pushed twice in the
last 10 years.
5 of 8 08/09/2019, 18:36
Thai authorities cover up one of two Buddhist monks killed by a roadside bomb planted
by suspected separatist Muslim militants in Thailand’s restive southern province of
Yala. Photo: AFP
Since 2004 the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and parts of

Songkhla have witnessed a resurgence of violence. It has been alleged that
the separatist Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) have led attacks against
Thailand’s majority Buddhist population.
Islam plays a central role in Patani’s identity. The kingdom was only
annexed by Thailand (then known as Siam) in 1902. As such, the region
retains a distinct identity, with di�erent customs, religion and language.
In the fourteen years since the re-emergence of violence nearly 7,000

people have died, and more than 12,500 injured. Despite international and
domestic e�orts, there is still no end in sight to the almost century-old
con�ict.
“I believe that change must come from the Thai Muslim community. They
must accept coexistence and tolerance by looking within.”
6 of 8 08/09/2019, 18:36
Phra Visuddho �rmly supports the Thai government’s “coexistence”

policies. However some have dubbed this approach as forced assimilation
and/or “Thai�cation”– basically, with the Thai language instituted as the
medium of instruction in schools, Islamic education marginalised and local
Muslim courts abolished.
Thai Muslim and Buddhist schoolchildren work together to harvest rice during a
multicultural gathering in Mai Kaen district in Thailand’s restive province of Pattani.
Photo: AFP
At the same time, he feels separatist methods have grown increasingly

brutal. The targeting of Buddhist schoolteachers concerns him a great
deal.
7 of 8 08/09/2019, 18:36
When probed about what the Buddhist community could do to end the
violence, Phra Visuddho’s answers are nonchalant and pretty
insubstantial. “Buddhism teaches love and how to understand each other.
We monks will help decrease the tensions between religions.”
“Buddhism will support other religions. Buddhism doesn’t impose.”
However, one wishes that ethnic and religious hardliners in the region
could realise that the onus for the creation of a peaceful and progressive
society rests equally on both the majority and minority.
It all requires balance – something the Buddhist religion also stresses.
Peace between the various ethnic groups and religions in Southeast Asia
will not occur unless minorities are given the space to express their faith,
culture and language, even as they �nd their place within their respective
nations.
It seems that for both Thai Buddhists and Muslims, the need to “look
within” is as imperative as ever.
Source URL: https://scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2139389

/looking-within-whats-behind-thailands-buddhist-muslim-divide
Links
[1] https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2126185/red-shirts-
yellow-shirts-will-there-ever-be-united-colours
[2] https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2130756/will-
india-and-asean-serve-counterbalance-china
[3] https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2136590/whats-
behind-malaysias-election-apathy
[4] https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2137566/what-
malaysian-teachers-struggle-says-about-strength-southeast
8 of 8 08/09/2019, 18:36

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Looking within: what’s behind Thailand’s Buddhist-Muslim divide? ... https://www.scmp.com/print/week-asia/society/article/2139389/lookin...

Looking within: what’s behind

Before he was Phra Visuddho, he was Pisut Aungsupalee. In Thai “Pisut”

Born in Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown district, Pisut – who is Chinese-

At the age of twelve, he and his family moved to Nonthaburi Province in

Monks usually start their day with

Bintabaht is the collection of alms that make up a monk’s meal. “Before

“I wanted to study ourselves – as human beings – and about life.”

He ended up at Kasetsart University in Bangkok.

He returned to work at the fruit shop after forty-�ve days.

“Actually, he wanted to be a monk forever. But my family had di�erent

“So, when I was twenty-three, I told my mother I too wanted to become a

WATCH: Blast kills one, wounds 30 in southern Thailand

“Since I did not become a monk then, I went to England to pursue my

His father’s death changed his perspective on life. Twenty-three-year-old

“Whenever I hear news about the violence, I always associate the

On a recent trip to Leeds to improve his English, he remembers being

Although he maintains that he feels no resentment towards Muslims, the

Since 2004 the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and parts of

In the fourteen years since the re-emergence of violence nearly 7,000

Phra Visuddho �rmly supports the Thai government’s “coexistence”

At the same time, he feels separatist methods have grown increasingly

“Buddhism will support other religions. Buddhism doesn’t impose.”

It all requires balance – something the Buddhist religion also stresses.

Source URL: https://scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2139389

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