Thaification
Encyclopedia
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
become assimilated
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
to the dominant Thai culture, or more precisely, to the culture of the Central Thais
Central Thailand
Central Thailand is a region of Thailand, covering the broad alluvial plain of the Chao Phraya River. It is separated from North-East Thailand by the Phetchabun mountain range, and another mountain range separates it from Myanmar to the west. In the north it gently changes into the more hilly...
. Thaification is a step in the creation in the 20th century of the Thai nation state where Thai people
Thai people
The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...
occupy a dominant position, away from the historically multicultural kingdom of Siam.
Motives
Thaification is a byproduct of the nationalist policies consistently followed by the Thai state after the Siamese coup d'état of 1933Siamese coup d'état of 1933
The Siamese Coup d’état of June 1933 was considered the first time in Thai history that the Military has successfully overthrown the Constitutional Government. The actual coup took place peacefully on 20 June 1933 in Bangkok. The Coup was led by Colonel Phraya Phahol Pholphayuhasena against the...
. The coup leaders, inspired by Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
ideas of an exclusive nation state, sought to increase the power of the Central Thais. The businesses of interspersed minorities, like the traditionally merchant Thai Chinese
Thai Chinese
The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people...
, were aggressively bought out by the state, which gave preferential contracts to ethnic Thais
Thai people
The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...
. Thai identity was reinforced both in the heartlands and on the fringes. Central Thailand became economically and politically dominant, and its language became the language of the media, business, and education. Equally, its values became the national values. Central Thai culture’s being the culture of wealth and status made it hugely attractive to those on the edge economically and socially.
Targets
The main targets of Thaification have been ethnic groups on the edges of the Kingdom of Thailand, geographically and culturally: the LaoLao people
The Lao are an ethnic subgroup of Tai/Dai in Southeast Asia.-Names:The etymology of the word Lao is uncertain, although it may be related to tribes known as the Ai Lao who appear in Han Dynasty records in China and Vietnam as a people of what is now Yunan Province...
of Isan
Isan
Isan is the northeastern region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Prachinburi mountains south of Nakhon Ratchasima...
(อีสาน), the hill tribes of the north
Northern Thailand
Thailand's northern region is geographically characterised by multiple mountain ranges which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar and Laos, and the river valleys which cut through them...
and west, and the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
(มุสลิม) Malay minority of the south
Southern Thailand
Southern Thailand is a distinct region of Thailand, connected with the Central region by the narrow Kra Isthmus.-Geography:Southern Thailand is located on the Malay Peninsula, with an area around 70,713 km², bounded to the north by Kra Isthmus as the narrowest part of the peninsula. The...
. There has also been a Thaification of the large immigrant Chinese
Thai Chinese
The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people...
and Indian populations.
Rural development
In the first set of policies, the government has targeted specific policies and actions at the fringe groups. An example of this is the Accelerated Rural Development Programme of 1964, the Isan component of which included the strengthening of allegiances with BangkokBangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
and the rest of the country as one of its objectives.
Education
The second set of policies consists of policies applied nationally, but that disproportionately affect the fringe groups. One example of this is the prescribed use of the Thai languageThai language
Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
in school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s. This had little effect on Central Thais who already used the language in everyday life, but made bilinguals of speakers of Isan
Isan language
Isan language is the collective name for the dialects of the Lao language as they are spoken in Thailand. It is spoken by approximately 20 million people, which is nearly one-third of the entire population of Thailand, predominantly in the Isan region of northeastern Thailand. There are also large...
in the north-east, of Northern Thai or Kam Mueang
Northern Thai language
Northern Thai, Lanna, or Kham Mueang is the language of the Thai Yuan people of Lannathai, Thailand. It is a Tai language, closely related to Thai and Lao...
(คำเมือง) in the north and of Yawi (ยะวี) in the south. Harsher methods were imposed on the Thai Chinese; after the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
was founded in 1949, a series of anticommunist governments starting with that of dictator Plaek Pibulsonggram
Plaek Pibulsonggram
Field Marshal Plaek Pibunsongkhram , often known as Phibun Songkhram or simply Phibun in English, was Prime Minister and virtual military dictator of Thailand from 1938 to 1944 and 1948 to 1957.- Early years :...
sharply reduced Chinese immigration and prohibited all Chinese language
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
s in Thailand. Thai Chinese born after the 1950s had "very limited opportunities to enter Chinese schools"; those Thai Chinese who could afford to study overseas studied English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
instead of Chinese for economic reasons. As a result, the Chinese in Thailand have "almost totally lost the language of their ancestors", and are gradually losing their Chinese identity.
Encouraging nationalism
The third set of policies was designed to encourage Thai nationalism in all the country’s people: obvious examples are the promotion of the king as a national figurehead, saluting the flagFlag of Thailand
The flag of the Kingdom of Thailand shows five horizontal stripes in the colours red, white, blue, white and red, with the middle blue stripe being twice as wide as each of the other four. The design was adopted on 28 September 1917, according to the royal decree about the flag in that year; the...
in school and the twice daily broadcasts of the national anthem (Phleng Chat - เพลงชาติ) on radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
at 8 AM and at 6 PM. Encouraging Thai nationalism had the obvious side effect of discouraging other loyalties, such as that to Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
in Isan or that to Melayu (มลายู) in the south.
Increasing the role of the state
The fourth set of policies, consisted of those that were not overtly nationalistic, but could nevertheless promote nationalism. Increasing school attendance, for example, when coupled with the proscription of minority languages in schools, had the effect of discouraging the use of those languages in favour of Thai.
The backs of Series 14 and 15 100-baht banknotes first announced 20 October 2537 BE/AD 1994 and continued unchanged on the Series 15 of 22 October 2547 BE/AD 2004, depicted boys receiving instruction at a Buddhist watWat
A wat is a monastery temple in Cambodia, Thailand, or Laos. The word "wat" means "school".- Introduction :...
in days of old; pupils at a modern school flying the national flag; and the inscription (in translation) "Education in our nation is of the first importance/therefore I shall diligently improve it./Thus remarked Rama V." These were replaced without fanfare by Series 15 (Revised) 19 September 2548 BE/AD 2005, to depict Rama V freeing the slaves. All images of all Thai baht
Thai baht
The baht is the currency of Thailand. It is subdivided into 100 satang . The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand.-History:The baht, like the pound, originated from a traditional unit of mass...
banknotes and coins have also been removed from all related Wikipedia articles, except for the one on Thai baht in the Thai language.
See also
- Democracy Monument, BangkokDemocracy Monument, BangkokThe Democracy Monument is a public monument in the centre of Bangkok, capital of Thailand. It occupies a traffic circle on the wide east-west Ratchadamnoen Klang Road, at the intersection of Dinso Road...
- Education in ThailandEducation in ThailandEducation in Thailand is provided mainly by the Thai government through the Ministry of Education from pre-school to senior high school. A free basic education of twelve years is guaranteed by the constitution, and a minimum of nine years' school attendance is mandatory.Formal education consists of...
- History of IsanHistory of IsanThe history of Isan has been determined by its geography, situated as it is on the Korat Plateau between Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.The term "Isan" originally meant "invisible power", and is derived from Isanapura, the ancient capital of the northern Chenla Kingdom, established in 613 AD near...
- History of ThailandHistory of ThailandTai peoples who originally lived in southwestern China, migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of many centuries. The oldest known mention of their existence in the region by the exonym Siamese is in a twelfth-century A.D. inscription at the Khmer temple complex of Angkor Wat in...
- Mandala (Southeast Asian history)Mandala (Southeast Asian history)Mandala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". The mandala is a model for describing the patterns of diffuse political power in early Southeast Asian history when local power was more important...
- Tai Tham script
- Thai cultural mandatesThai cultural mandatesThe Cultural Mandates or State Decrees were a series of 12 edicts issued between 1939 and 1942 by the government of Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram during his first period as Prime Minister and military dictator of Thailand. The mandates aimed to create a uniform and "civilized" Thai culture...
- SocializationSocializationSocialization is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists and educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies...
- South Thailand insurgencySouth Thailand insurgencyAn ethnic separatist insurgency is taking place in Southern Thailand, predominantly in the Malay Pattani region, made up of the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. Violence has increasingly spilling over into other provinces...
External links
- In Defense of the Thai-Style Democracy. Pattana Kitiarsa. Asia Research Institute. National University of Singapore. October 12, 2006. File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat.
Additional reading
- Impact of survey and map-making in Siam detailed in Twentieth century impressions of Siam its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources, with which is incorporated an abridged edition of Twentieth century impressions of British Malaya. Editor in chief: Arnold Wright ... Assistant editor: Oliver T. Breakspear ... Published 1908 by Lloyds Greater Britain Publishing Company, Ltd. in London [etc.] Library of Congress classification: DS565.W7 Open Library