Cablegate: Northern Muslims Cultivate Moderate Image

VZCZCXRO7220
PP RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0117/01 2020829
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210829Z JUL 06
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0235
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0509
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 0269
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU PRIORITY 0037
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS

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.
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