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<h1>Need to embrace diversity</h1>
<p class="gmail-detail-date"><i>opinion February 25, 2018 01:00</i></p>
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By The Nation </p>
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<h2>
Being a Thai should be reinforced by the ideas of pluralism and inclusivity </h2><br><br>
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<p>On Friday, members of the international
community came together at the Bangladesh Embassy in Bangkok to
commemorate International Mother’s Language Day 2018.</p><p>
A senior official from the Education Ministry, deputy permanent
secretary Watanaporn Ra-Ngubtook, said Thailand supports the use of
mother-tongue-based multilingual education to ensure that minority
language learners are not left out of the national education system.</p><p>
Watanaporn said the country remains committed to making cultural and
linguistic diversity a cornerstone of development in Thailand. </p>
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<p>
“Our country is home to 72 unique ethno-lingusitic groups – a wealth of
diversity that is among our national treasures,” she said. “Recognising
the different linguistic and cultural backgrounds among our people, the
Thai government has worked hard to protect and promote this cultural
diversity.” She pointed to Thailand’s advances in this area, including
Mahidol University’s Patani Malay-Thai Bi/Multilingual Education
project. There is no denying that language is an important part of one’s
identity. In fact, many of intra-country conflicts, such as the
separatist insurgency in Thailand’s Malay-speaking South, are about
competing narratives and identity. In this case, the Thai
state-constructed identity has been rejected by the Malays of Patani. </p><p>
Our state-constructed identity required one to speak Thai in public
institutions, such as schools, municipalities, government offices, and
so on. The idea is to reinforce “Thainess”, or “kwam pen Thai”. </p><p>
Let us admit that many of those who grow up in the central region, where
standard Thai is spoken, are condescending towards fellow citizens who
speak Lao, Khmer, Malay or one of the hilltribe languages. </p><p>
In that respect, Watanaporn’s statement is a breath of fresh air, but
the truth is Thais do not treat dialects and languages of different
regions with equal respect.</p><p>
Many Thais also look down on migrant workers from neighbouring
countries. Thai appreciation of these migrants is confined to the fact
that they are willing to work much harder and for a lot less money. </p><p>
Mahidol University was awarded the Unesco King Sejong Prize in 2016 for
its mother tongue pilot project. The pilot phase is over and now is the
time to re-examine it to see how we as a society could build on it. This
pilot project has the potential to pave the way for a sound national
language policy that takes into consideration pluralism as a concept,
not just fancy words spouted by Thai officials. More debates will be
needed, of course, if we are to build on what Mahidol put forth and turn
it into policy. </p><p>
Unesco’s director in Bangkok, Maki Hayakishiwa, was quoted as saying
millions of primary school-aged children wordwide lack access to
learning in a language they understand and that this remains an
“invisible barrier” to education. </p><p>
The statistics and studies are out there. It’s time for our policymakers
rethink policy and take certain concepts and principles like pluralism
and inclusivity into consideration. But for that to take place, they
need to come to terms with their own prejudices and racist views.
Ironically, many of whose so-called defenders of “Thainess” are children
of immigrants whose parents or grandparents migrated to this country
two or three generations ago.</p><p>
They embrace this “Thainess” quickly, often abandoning their own
cultural and ethnic roots, believing that this is the only way they can
be accepted as a “Thai”. But being a Thai shouldn’t be a monopoly of the
state or of people from the central region. And being a Thai shouldn’t
require one to sell his or her soul.</p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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