a seminar on islam and national development

8/3/2019 A Seminar on Islam and National Development

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A SEMINAR ON

ISLAMANDNATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT

mTtr.FHtr ASEAN Training Centre forPrimary Health Care DevelopmentMahidol University at Salaya


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A SEMINAR ONISLAM AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

conducted in conjunction with the international training programme on

"PI,ANN'NG AND MANAGEMENT FOR HEALTH ANDDEVELOPMENT'

at theASEAN Training Centre for Primary HealthC-are Development Mahidol Universtty at Salaya

3 September 1986


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Published by:ASEAN Training Centre for Primary HealthCar Deryeloprnent Mahidol Unircrsi$ d SalayaThailand 1987Directing Editor

Krasae Chanawongse, M.D., D.T.P.H., Dr.P.H.EditorMelanie Sovine, Ph.D.Technical Editor

Stephen King, M.Med.Sci.


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CONTENTSPreface

by Dr. Krasae ChanawongseExecutive Summaryby Dr.Melanie SovineOpening Addressby Professor Natth Bhamarapravati

MORNING SESSIONSPANET: "The Concept of Development in lslam"

Introductory Remarksby Dr.U Kyaw Than, Moderator"The Concept of Development in Moslem Communities:A case Study of Indonesian Experiences"by Dr.Adnan Mahmoed"lslam and.National Development in Southern Thailand"by Dr.Surin Pitsuwan

LECTLIRE:,,The Role of the Monarchy in the lmprovement of Socio-Economic Conditions ofthe Thai Muslim Community in southern Thailand"by H.E.General Harn LeenanondMinister of Agriculture and CooperativesAFTERNOON SESSIONSPANEL: "Primary Health Care Problems in Thailand and lndonesia"Introductory Remarksby Prof.Noboru lwamura, Moderator 21"Primary Health Care Problems in Southern Thailand"by Dr.Traivit Taymathiwongse 22"Primary Health Care Development in Indonesia as a Moslem Maiority Country"by Dr.Adnan Mahmoed 24

LECTIJRE: ',Cooperative Efforts among the Muslims and the Buddhists in Community Deve-lopment"by Dr. Pann Yuanlate and Dr. Chavewan Wannaprasert

DrscussloNcoNCLUDING REMARKS: "National Social Development: Fear of cultural lossDisenchantment, and Social Unrest"by Dr.Melanie Sovine 36

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PREFACE

";

Krasae Chanawongse, M.D., Dr. P.H. Director, ATC/PHCThe ASEAN Training Centrefor Primary Heatth Care Development, a jointproiect between Mahidol University and the Ministry of Public Health, Thsiland,welcomes and is olways willing to sponsor international collaboration on issuesrelated to primary health core development. This Conference on Islsm and NationalDevelopment provides an opportltnity for an exchange of ideas between Thai andIndonesian professionals, taking advantage of the Indonesians' three-month re-sidency at ATC/PHC for a training progrom on 'Planning and Manogement forHealt h and Development.'

The Rector of Mahidol University, Professor (Dr.) Natth Bhamarapravati,personally suggested the topic for this meeting as a means to consider the importantrelationship between religion and development. We will be looking at similar issuesabout the cultural factors that affect our nations' development in the future.Thailand recognizes the importance of spiritual development in generalsocial development and ATC/PHC is happy to sponsor a conference that furtherhighlights the role of religious traditions and leaders in successful primary healthcare development. We are especially fortunate to hear the experiences and sharein the expertise of the Indonesians who are all primary health care professionalsin a predominantly Muslim country. Further, the Conference is enhanced by ex-perienced Thai health care workers and government officials who work within theMuslim regions of Southern Thailand.On behal,f of the ATC/PHC, I trust the results of this Conference witl bebeneficial to and effectively supportive of the primary heatth care activities inThailond and Indonesia. I would like to thank His Excellency General Harn Lee-nanond, Professor Noboru lwornuro, provincial officers and other governmentofficials, guest lecturers, panelists, and conference participants who have greatlycontributed to the success of this seminur.


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Executive SummaryByMelanie L. Sovine, Ph.D.

With thirty Indonesian health care professionals in residence at the ASEANTraining Centre for training in Primary Health Care Management and Leadership,a special conference was held on Islam and National Development. The conferenceprovided a forum of exchange for Thai and Indonesian health care professionals,government officials, and university faculty on a mutually experienced topic: thedevelopment of primary health care among predominantly Muslim populations.Specific issues addressed include the relationship of Muslim beliefs to health,employment and education, community participation, and to leadership develop-ment in Muslim communities. While obstacles to development were not denied,the conference purposely highlighted the positive contributions that religioustraditions make to a people's general well-being and the potentials for continuedsuccessful primary health care development in Muslim regions.The conference began with an Opening Address by Professor (Dr.) NatthBhamarapravati, Rector of Mahidol University. Dr. Natth described Islam as oneof the World's great religions that has contributed to World civilizations. Hesuggested we look deep into Islam, into its history and religious traditions, tounderstand the scientific reasons behind the many beliefs related to health andwell-being. Dr. Krasae Chanawongse, Director of ATCIPHC, followed by wel-coming all participants to the ASEAN Training Centre and said the conferencesupported a main principle of ATC: to "help people learn and teach among them-selves, where everyone is learning and everyone is teaching."The first panel, moderated by Dr. U. Kyaw Than, a Burmese VisitingScholar with the Social Science Faculty, Mahidol University, focused on "TheConcept of Development in Islam." Because "development is the preoccupationof our times," Dr. Than encouraged the use of native models for development,with indigenous goals, and a turning to Thailand's own national resources to im-plement these models. Among these resources are Thailand's cultural heritage andreligious traditions, he explained, and development plans must be linked to thisheritage. Dr. Adnan Mahmoed, the Indonesian group leader and a panel partici-pant, presented a case study of planned social change that is consistent with theIslamic Concept of Life. He emphasized the importance of integrating communityspiritual leaders in community development plans. Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, a ThaiMuslim and a recently elected member of the Parliament now serving as the Secre-tary of'the National Assembly, described the Muslim religion as often too fatalistic,emphasizing the "other-wordly" side of religion. Dr. Surin encouraged achievinga balance between secular life and spiritual life, a balance he believes will resultin an improved Quality of Life for Thai Muslims in the South. He directly addressedthe problem of incorporating secular education into Muslim religious educationso that Thai Muslims could gain employment and achieve a higher level of socialdevelopment and satisfaction.


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After the morning break, General Harn Leenanond, recently elected Memberof Parliament and Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, presented a lecture,"The Role of the Monarchy in the Improvement of the Socio-Economic Conditionof the Thai Muslim Community in Southern Thailand." General Harn's lectureemphasized the care of His Majesty the King for the suffering of all Thai people,making no difference according to ethnicity or religion in providing for the Thaipeople. General Harn also described the numerous on-going Royal InitiativeProjects for the benefit of Thais in the South.The afternoon session began with a panel, "Primary Health Care Problemsin Thailand and Indonesia" moderated by Dr. Noboro Iwamura, Japanese TeamLeader at ATC/PHC. Dr. Iwamura noted the many nationalities attending theconference and welcomed everyone's contribution of ideas on primary health caredevelopment. He introduced Dr. Adnan, noting his work as a Director of Nurs-ing, and acknowledged the significant role of nurses on the "frontier of primaryhealth care activity." Dr. Adnan presented a review of primary health care problemsin Indonesia, emphasizing the difficulty of implementing intersectoral collaborationand other primary health care concepts in social development. He encouragedagain drawing upon the native spiritual leaders in the communities to facilitatecollaboration among the people, officials, and primary health care workers. Dr.Traivit Taymahiwongse, Provincial Chief Public Health Officer of Pattani Province,presented a review of primary health care problems in Pattani Province in southernThailand. Dr. Traivit underscored problems in language and communication,illiteracy, poverty and poor health status as areas of primary concern in the pro-vince. He discouraged "blaming the people" because they are Muslim and en-couraged the consideration of socio-economic conditions, for example, successfulaccess to resources such as an education resulting in employment, as underlyingproblems in the development of Thai Muslim regions.As a final presentation, Dr. Pann Yuanlate, Deputy Rector of Prince ofSongkhla University, and Mrs. Chavewan Wannaprasert, Professor at Prince ofSongkhla University, gave a joint lecture on "Cooperative Efforts Among theMuslims and the Buddhists in Community Development." Both lectures emphasizedsuccesses through appropriately linking Islamic concepts with development con-cepts. Mrs. Chavewan spoke specifically about Family Planning issues and des-cribed the importance of renaming these efforts "Population Education" forsuccessful implementation.Dr. Adnan Mahmoed, the Indonesian group leader, closed the conferenceday by underscoring again the importance of a balanced spiritual and social deve-lopment for people of all regions.The publication of the Conference Proceedings is intended to provide asummary review of the conference for wider distribution. It also provides contactnames of Thai and Indonesian professionals for further collaboration among thosewho continue to work in this area. The panel presentations and guest lectures arepublished here in abstract format, every attempt having been made to preserve thepresenter's main thesis. The afternoon discussions are also abstracted hoping toprovide the reader with a more complete sense of the dynamics of the conference.


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Opening AddressByProf. Dr. Notth Bhamarapravati

Rector, Mahidol UniversityIt is my pleasure to open the Conference on Islam and National Develop-

ment by welcoming all distinguished guests and participants. Mahidol Universityis privilieged to have the Indonesian health care professionals visiting Thailand.We welcome them as experts with experience in managing primary health caredevelopment for the predominantly Muslim population of Indonesia. It is unusualto have thirty Indonesians for three months in Thailand and we are pleased to makeuse of this opportunity through this special conference.Islam is one of the World's great religions and it has contributed to thebuilding of great world civilizations and empires. We should look deeply into

Islam, therefore, to learn its secrets. We should examine the historical past andthe traditions of Islam to learn of its success. We must not interpret religiousbeliefs as taboos against health development. There are reasons behind religioushealth beliefs and if we accept them positively, we can use religious traditions tofacilitate primary health care development.Mahidol University is pleased to sponsor this Conference in cooperationwith ATC/PHC. The University has a responsibility to involve itself visibly withthe issues that concern this nation and its people, and Mahidol University and

ATC/PHC are committed to resolving the same through international cooperationthroughout the ASEAN region. The presentations and discussions on Islam anddevelopment certainly will benefit our mutual commitments to Primary HealthCare development.


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Morning SessionsPANEL: "The Concept of Development in Islam"

IntroductorY Remarksby Dr. U Kyaw Than, Moderator,The Concept of Development in Moslem Communities: A Case Study ofIndonesian ExPeriences'by Dr. Adnan Mahmoed'Islam and National Development in Southern Thailand'by Dr. Surin Pitsuwan

LECTURE: The Role of the Monarchy in the Improvement of Socio-EconomicConditions of the Thai Muslim Community in Southern Thailand"by H.E. General Harn LeenanondMinister of Agriculture and Cooperatives


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Introductory RemarksBy

Dr. U. Kyaw Than, ModeratorI am very happy to be part of this morning's proceedings and I will try tocontribute initial thoughts on the theme "Islam and National Development."Development is the preoccupation of our times, certainly of the countriesof Southeast Asia. Very often we would identify ourselves with our developinggoals and plans as being members of the developing nations. Formerly, our nationaldevelopment plans have been very much influenced by the models which are Western,those coming from the industrialized nations. But more and more as we have gonethrough stages of executing our own development plans, we realize that we haveto use our own models. We have to think in terms of indigenous goals for thedevelopment process.The more we talk about our own indigenous goals, the more it becomesnecessary for us to turn to our own national resources. When we speak of theheritage of our own community and our history as a nation. Therefbre, I thinkit's very relevant this morning that we try to link the concept of national develop-ment with the teachings of Islam, experiences of the Muslim nations, and therelationship between the goals of national development and the teachings of theheritage that we have in our own lands. It is not irrelevant to say that if we speakin terms of the theistic traditions of our own lands, and especially when we thinkof Islam, somehow in the purpose of God, in His providence, we find one of theimportant national resources for development, viz. oil, as the resource with whichmany Muslim nations are blessed.In the region often referred to as 'Middle East', the Gulf States, Indonesiaand the rest of the OPEC (Oil Producing and Exporting Countries), this importantresource, on which the nations of the world depend for energy, is found. And mostof these nations have predominantly Muslim populations. Economic assistancethat is or could be given out of the proceeds of the sale of oil by these countriesto other nations has great development significance. What is the relationship, forexample, between having this particular kind of resource 4nd the responsibilityof the nation with a predominantly Muslim population within and beyond its ownborders? Is there a particular purpose? I think these can be the kinds of thoughtsthat come up in our minds when we think of Islam and national development. Ithink it's quite legitimate also for those who are not necessarily Muslim to expectsome kind of reflection from the countries with predominantly Muslim populationsas to how this can be interpreted, how what Providence had given can be used forthe development of the regions, the development of the neighbors, and the Worldas a whole.Such reflections will require us, not only to look at the teachings in Islamfor traditional religious purposes, but also for understanding the implications ofpossessing such an important resource whicl^ is "c significant for all the nationsin the contemporary world.


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The Concept of Development in Moslem Communities:A Case Study of Indonesian Experiences

ByDr. Adnan MohmoedThis morning, I am very happy to deliver thoughts about the concepts ofdevelopment in the Muslim community in Indonesia. This will bring us to a startingpoint of thinking about development, especially with people in the Muslim com-munity. Actually, when we work in the developing countries, and as we take morelife in the community, we find still some people are reluctant to accept developmentactivities. If you also find this experience, then it must be something to explain,

something we have to examine. So I would like to show you how in Indonesia wetry to make the people happier to change and willing to know prosperity in theMuslim community and religion. I would like to deliver a case stpdy from Indonesiaand experiences that I experienced in my job as a field-worker in the health depart-ment program.I think the best thing to examine first is the Concept of Life in the Muslimcommunity. We can see from this diagram (see figure 1) their way of life is thecomplete submission to Allah, the only one God, the creator of Man and the wholeUniverse. A Muslim who has real faith in Allah makes every aspect of his life sub-servient to the will of Allah, and all efforts of a Muslim in daily life are along thisbelief. Their goal in this world is to find and possess the blessing of God, and tofind a life based on all good, free from evil. So this is the basic concept. I do realizethat we could find many basic concepts. I only raise this one in relation to thismorning. From this point of view we can see that the community, in seeking thelife, the better life, becomes a kind of "Community of Believers" (see figure 2).The Muslim community as a Community of Believers is existing, I think, everywherein the world as a spriritual community. The value of the spirit of togethernessamong each member of the community, the dream of effective communicationamong them, is the responsihility of the community. Other cultural values couldbe accepted in the life of the Muslim community if they are not against the religiousbelief. Their attitudes, values, and ways of thinking are influenced by the Moslemleaders. With this concept of life, that form day to day they are directed to thegood way, there must be someone that can show them the very good way. Theremust be a leader, and the leaders in this case we call the "spiritual leaders."

The community feeling actually is based on the degree of faith and believing.Sometimes with a certain degree of believing we can find what we call a "hard corecommunity." They ore making the horizon very narow and they come refusingor reluctont to accept anything. From the hardcore sometimes develops what wecall "fanaticism. " From fanaticism we can find a kind of deviation, a little side-group inside the community occurs as a reaction to development. In reference tothe possibility of fanaticism, I want to focus of the role of the spiritual leaders inthe community.


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Figure 1 : The Islamic Concept of LifeThe attitude of complete sub-mission to Allah, the only oneGod, the Creator of Man andthe whole universe

A Moslem, who has real faithin Allah, makes every aspectof his life subservient to theWill of Allah

It stipulates for a man a systemof life which is basd on all goodand is free from cvil

God or Allah has revealed tohuman nature the consciousnessand cognition of Good and Evil

The 'Iman' is the act of reposingfaith in Allah

All effort of a Muslim is to findand possess the Blessing of Allah

ISLAMICCONCEPTOF LIFE


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Figure 2: Community of Believers

Spirit of togetherness bringseffective communication amongthem

Their attitude and way of think-ing influenced by their leaders

Unity and cohesiveness of itsmembers based on religiousbeliefs as basic values

Other cultural values could beaccepted if not against religiousbeliefs

Community feeling based ondegree of believingIIv

hard coreIv

fanaticismIIvdeviations

Existed as spiritual communitY

Moslem Community

CommunitY of Believers


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Muslim communities are very dependent on their spiritual leaders. In o.rrttcountry if the leaders say "black", everybody says "black". If the leader says,"white", the community says "white". There is an acceptance of national leadersof the government, but the government leader should be accepted also by the spi-ritual leaders. There's no acceptance without the confirmation of the spiritualleaders. If innovation or change happens in our country, it happens by confirmationfrom the spiritual leaders.

So considering the role of the spiritual leaders I present here the "two-srepflow of communication" (see figure 3). Whenever we would like to change the com-munity attitudes for development, whenever we have a new idea for those com-munities, it is very difficult if we go directly to the community. They are going tobe reluctant. If the people from the outside come to the community directly, theleaders feel that "someone is coming here to take my influence.in my community,so I have to refuse that." The best way, if there's a new idea or interest, is to ap-proach the spiritual leaders first. And if there is confirmation we go together tothe community. It will be acceptable because the leaders have legitimacy andauthority to say what is right and wrong. So when people come unconfirmed bythe leaders into the community, the leaders will say, "It is wrong and do not acceptit. "Figure 3: The Two-Step Flow of Communication

The leaders have the legitimacyand authority to say what isright and what is wrongCommunity members

,SVir itual/ community leaders :\\

to do something, based on sin,/reward consideration, in thename of God


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12 From this point we can go further to inform you of the kind of leaders inIndonesia. The first ones, the "pure spiritual leaders" in Indonesia, the ulama,Now are active in using the mosque in the development of communities, in chang-ing people's lives and giving them direction for the best life in this world. Theulama also have some activities in the schools and in the pesantren. The secondones are the community organization leaders in the Muslim social movement. Thisfr,rf"rfi- leader is active in private organizations and in the Muslim political party.This kind of leader was very influential before the 1970's. But according to thedevelopment of the political situation, these leaders are still holding a Muslimpolitical party but not a strong one. There are the "intellectual Muslim leaders",the very energetic leaders from the University who are politically unaffiliated.They are using mass media to create opinions of things in the way of life. Thebureaucrat with a government position sometimes also acts as a Muslim leader inthe community. However, there are only two types of leaders most important inthe influence of the community's acceptance of new ideas, the pure spiritual leaderand now the intellectual Muslim leader. To approach the Muslim community inIndonesia for development, the first step is approaching the spiritual leaders usingthe strategies of the two- step flow of communication. We try to select the mostprominent influential leaders of the community. From this step we are going downto convince the people of the new idea and program. This idea and program musthave a clear linkage between the benefit to the believers and the community leaders.With the leaders communicating the message, we hope there is acceptance of thenew idea. That is why the modest way of approaching the community with therecomendation of the spiritual leaders, utilizing the existing mosque or the religiousmeeting, is the best way to deliver the messages.

The role of the mosque as the center of spiritual and community develop-ment should be utilized but when doing so, we need a strategy for balancing betweenspiritual and formal leaders because the formal leaders from the government alsohave something to say. The messages delivered by the community committee, ofcourse, have to be continually monitored for remorse. In our country they use themechanism of remorse to reject any kind of new idea. The remorse is spread amongthe community and everyone coming from outside they shut out, closing the door.There is a kind of reluctancy to accept something or to refuse something becauseof prejudices to any foreigner bringing new ideas against their beliefs. They arethinking about their belief, their Concept of Life, the failure of the believers, theMuslim failure. They are afraid ideas coming from outside are going to ruin theirbeliefs, so they refuse. Also, taking the case of Thailand, maybe there is a kind ofpsychology of the minority, a great strong suspicion that goes "I om a minority."It is different of course in Indonesia because we are the majority. But this is thekind of thing, maybe we can examine for the whole day of this conference.


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Islam and National Development in southern ThailandByDr. Surin Pitsuwan

I very much appreciate this opportunity to come before you and talk fromthe propective of a young politician working for the development of Muslim com-munities in Southern Thailand. I have been listening with great interest to Dr.Adnan, about the structure of leadership and the strategies that developmentworkers should use in approaching the Muslim community. Just to elaborate Dr.Adnan's points, I am in a very precarious and special situation because my fatherwas the chairman of an Islamic community in Southern Thailand. My grandfatherand my great grandfather were all "Ljlama." I am the first generation who brokethe tradition. So when teaching at Thammasat University, and trying to work withthe government to bring new ideas into the community, ideas of reasoning, ideasof rationality, ideas of modernity, ideas of accepting secular education along withreligious education, I have, along with my colleagues, been faced with tremendousopposition, reluctance and rumors. I think as a community, Muslim leaders andscholars, have emphasized the "Otherjwordly" side of religion, forgetting thatthe Prophet himself had admonished His disciples to "work as hard as if you willlive forever and as hard as if you will die tomorrow." The morality of Islam isbalanced. It is not a total emphasis on fatalism, on the other-world. It also putsemphasis on this World, on good life, on quality of life, on all the good things theWorld has to offer.


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t4 I remember very well a phrase in the introduction to Unity.' "human beingsare not like animals to be led by the nose." But in the past, we have relinquishedour ownership of reason, our participation in reasoning to the Ulama. We haveabdicated ourselves from the responsibility of reasoning for every action that wetake. We thought that only submitting to the words of Ulama has moral quality,forgetting that acting itself has a moral dimension, the exercise of our reasoningbased on our understanding of God's will. That's the mistake of the past.

How about the Ulama? They also need confirmation from us. This is anidea for discussion, for compromise, trying to find out the best way to solve aproblem, for consultation, to achieve a consensus of the community.Ayatullah Khomeini rejected everything that all other great leaders havedone since the Prophet, and said "Let us return to the pristine concepts, everythingsure, everything clear, everything fundamentalist, everything very much as it was

in the beginning." This is directly contradictory to the idea of a just balance. I amsure you can remember this phrase and verse, "We have created you as a commu-nity, just and balanced, so that you can serve as a witness to all nations, to allmankind." Whatever happened to that? Whatever happened to that idea of a justbalance, compromising, compassionate, understanding, open, ready to acceptnew things if they are not totally contradictory to our faith? Difficulties and con-flicts and commotions that occur in our societies are not based on the fundamentalissues of the religion, not on the question of God, not on the question of Muhhammedas the Prophet of God, not on the question of the 15 principles of Islam, but onvery small points that each community or their religious leaders, Ulamas, take upon themselves, they having the absolute power to make pronouncements on thatissue and the unreasoning mass or unreasoning community tending to accept.


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r5How to introduce this reasoning, how to introduce this idea of rationalityand compassion into the Muslim community? I think it is a task you will have toface.The problem in the Muslim community is also a problem of trying to recon-

cile between the religious or traditional leaders and the leadership of technocrats,and the younger generation of leaders who are open to new ideas, but who are alsosensitive to klamic values. The new and the young leadership are not able to con-vince the mass of their sensitivity to Islamic values because they have been educatedin the West. We have these problems in Southern Thailand because the youngleaders can't read in the original language. You are in trouble, they don't believeyou, they don't trust you. My submission to you is to be patient.When you finish with the traditional schools in southern Thailand you are

"half-baked", you are not good at anything. you can't compete for entry intoa university, so you become lost. You become what Prof. Adnan called "the newleadership, the new intellectual" who is very vocal in opposition to the governmentbut are not themselves very much legitimate in the eyes of the people because theyare not good Muslim scholars. There needs to be an opening up of traditionaleducation through economic enticement, at least open the door for a new education.But this in itself has problems so we have to try to find a strategy to solve the sacred-secular problem once again, to improve the quality of instruction both in Islamicstudies and in the secular studies.Then there is the question of employment after education in SouthernThailand. Students'graduating from traditional schools go back and assume theprofession of the parents, of grandparents, of the great grandparents. They workon the land inherited from the great grandparents that will no longer support thegrowing population. There is no professional training, there is no occupationaltraining. How do you get this idea of professional training and occupational train-ing into these institutions? Certainly not from community itself. They don't havethe money, they don't have the finance to buy the equipment or to train students

in electrical repairing, in various professions, sewing, whatever. So you have toentice the government to allow you, Muslim leaders, to get support from outsideorganizations (for example, Japan Foundation, Ford Foundation, Asia Foundation)to provide opportunities for Muslims students in professional training, in occupationaltraining, so that they can hope of having some employment at the end of theireducation.I am very encouraged with various private organizations. On every cornerin Jakarta, there seems to be a private voluntary organization, "NGo'S", working

on development and you are certainly not short of funds from the outside in Indo-nesia. There are so many organizations and foundations from outside who arewilling to help. In Indonesia, there is the Netherlands Foundation, Ford Foundation,Rockefeller Foundation, Asia Foundation, Japan Foundation, Toyota Foundation.You have so many things helping you to strengthen vour efforts to bring new ideasand new things into the country. Now, beinq people from the inside, not being


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The Role of The Monarchy in The Improvement ofSocio-Economic Conditions of The Thai MuslimCommunity in Southern ThailandBy

Gen. Horn LeednanondFirst of all, I would like to give some information about the Monarchy in

Thailand. It is the oldest institution in the country. Its origin and developmenthas always been with the existence and development of the nation. It is the commonsentiment of the Thai citizens that this institution is respectable and worshipful;the feeling which would never be replaced by any other. Towards this sentimentthe Monarchy has graciously responded. This is demonstrated by His Majesty theKing's Statement: "We shall reign with righteousness for the happiness ond welfareof the Thai people. " This pledge is the moral principle of the Sovereign whichHis Majesty the King has always abided by, and also the Royal instigation of HisMajesty as the guiding principles in His Majesty's contribution to national develop-ment. This is the moral principle which all previous Thai Kings have upheld, henceresulting in the national stability and security of the Thai people; from the past tothe present.His Majesty the King is well aware of the people's problems as he is alwaysvisiting the regions. Therefore, His Majesty the King perceives the sufferings ofhis subjects like his own and feels dedicated to solve them. The most importantthing is that His Majesty does not only perceive himself as the Sovereign of a nation,legally or constitutionally, as the leaders of some nations do, but His Majesty has

always kept in mind that He is also a Thai. Therefore, He has to share the troublesand happiness with His subjects, without regarding sex, age, religion or profession,and He has a duty to patronize sovereignty and the Thai nation as the other Thaipeople do. His Majesty the King always instigates help for poverty-stricken peopleby emphasizing development for meeting basic needs, for self-reliance and forphysical and mental well-being.


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1B His Majesty the King has been very much interested in the developmenttowards self-reliance of the poor in rural areas. We can see this from His guidingwords on national development, as follows:".....National development should be proceeded step by step. The firststep is the provision of basic needs for the majority of the people, by appropriatemeons ond scientifically sound technologies. When this basis hos been estoblished,we proceed to higher degrees of development and higher economic status. If weconcentrote too much only on economic development without regarding the country'sand the people's situation, there will be an imbalance in many aqtects, Jinally leodingto failure. This kind of foilure can be seen in several civilized countries which orenow confronted with severe economic problems... Therefore, it is extremelyimportant to assist the people, firstly in their occupations and for self-supportbecouse those who are self-reliant by having their occupations and maintoiningcertain income will undoubtedy be able to pursue higher stages of development.The rationole for promoting development step by step with deliberotion and frugality,is to assure nofailure, but the perfect success....."In short, His Majesty's principle in development is consistent with the pro-blems in each specific area:"Development should be proceeded accordingly to physical geography andsocial geography."

Social geography refers to human habits and attitudes. We can not forcepeople to think, but we can guide them. When we go to the people, do not assumethat we are going to make them think the way we do. Once we get there, we haveto learn what the people really need, and thoroughly explain to them. By this way,our principles of development will bear fruit.

The Royal-Initiative Projects have amounted to over 900 developmentprojects. Most of His Majesty's development projects are in the agricultural fieldsuch as planting, animal husbandry, and the processing of agricultural productsto the market. Some projects on supplementary occupations are those of HerMajesty the Queen's project, The Foundation for the Promotion of SupplementaryOccupations and Related Techniques (SUPPORT). The Royal Projects can beclassified into the following areas.:

1. watershed development and irrigation;2. agriculture and promotion of occupations;3. conservation of natural resources;4. land management and development;5. communication development;6. public health;7. education;8. research;9. welfare.All of these activities are in the main stream of national development of thepresent government. All of them were initiated by the discretion and instigationof His Majesty.


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19Since there are so many Royal Projects, and if these projects were carriedout individually without coordination with other concerned organization, theywill not be as effective and efficient as they should be. Therefore, in l9gl, thegovernment, by the suggestion of His Excellency Prime Minister General premTinsulanonda, set about to solve the problem. According to the order of the Officeof the Prime Minister,.a national organization responsible for the operations ofall Royal Initiative Projects was established. It is dled, .,The Speciai Committeefor Coordination of the Royal Initiative projects."This committee serves as a national committee for cbntrol, supervision, evaluationand coordination of the official sectors and state enterprises which operate theng$ initiative projects. It facilitates quick operation of the projects by the mostefficient manner. Moreover, it acts ai a ceniral organization for grantilg suU-projects and activities and necessary budgets for the operation of the ioyal initiativeactivities which have been proposed by related organizations.

Quite a large nember of Muslims reside in the southern part of Thailand;most of them inhabiting five provinces in southern Thailand. Those provincesare Songkla, Satun, Pattani, yala and Narathiwat. They occupy more than 20,wsquare kilometers (approximately 3090 of the Southern Regiori of tne fingAom;,with a population of 2,299,471; including 47Vo Thai Buddhists and 53go ThaiMuslims. Since approximately 5590 of the geographical features in the South aremountains and mountainous ranges and thle rdst (+svo; u* pl;i";ilai,"ort orthe Thai Buddhists and Thai Muslims take their occupations in the rubber plantation,mining, fisheries and agriculture.In the long historical development and evolutional process of the nation,with a large number of people there being Muslims, (whose ethnic background,religious beliefs and cultural practices are different from those of the majority ofthe Thai population) there arose some conflicts in this region. rris MajestytheKing has recognized the sensitivity of these differences. His Majesty also recognizesthat it does not matter whether they are Buddhists or Muslims. They are all Thai.From His Majesty's concern, a concern based on the equality of His subjects,be they Buddhists or Muslims, several royal initiative projects have emerged.Most of them aim at development for the provision of basic needs to the rural

residents; especially those who live in the r-emote, poverty-stricken areas. As aresult, the projects undoubtedly contribute to government policies, for the benefitof.the majority of the population and of the nation as a whole. Most of the royalinitiative projects concentrate on social and economic development, for eiamdtJ,projects to improve education, irrigation, agricultural activities, co-operativesactivities, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries, social activities, communications,and public health.It is clear that the role of His Majesty the King in the improvement of socio-economic conditions of the Muslim community in Southern Thailand does notdiffer from his role in other parts of the Kingdom. Through the royally-initiatedactivities, the People's nationalism and affection for the nation will be enhanced.Moreover, the successful operation of these activities will contribute to the develop-ment of rural Thai society towards meeting basic needs, self-reliance, and attain-ment of a certain level of happiness without regarding any differences among theBuddhists and Muslims.


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20

Afternoon SessionsPANEL: "Primary Health Care Problems in Thailand and Indonesia"

"Introductory Remarks"by Professor Dr. Noboru lwamura, Moderator"Primary Health Care Problems in Southern Thailand"by Dr. Traivit Taymathiwongse"Primary Health Care Development in Indonesia as a Moslem MajorityCountry"by Dr. Adnan Mahmoed

LECTURE: "Cooperative Efforts among the Muslims and the Buddhists in Com-munity Development"by Dr. Pann Yuanlate and Dr. Chavewan Wannaprasert

DISCUSSION


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27,

Introductory RemarksBy

Dr. Noboru lwamura, ModerotorThank you very much ladies and gentlemen. Please allow me to hold thisnecktie. It is a beautiful necktie made of Thai silk and designed by the handicapped,disabled people. It reminds me of our important work. From this morning'ssession, I picked up beautiful English words. Our speech was disabled but we arenot depressed. I know my mother tongue is not English, and your mother tongue

is not English, but we have mainly the same source of ideas.I am sure all of you ladies and gentlemen, sisters and brothers, can be verymuch cooperative enough to support this moderator, otherwise my weakness isto be very talkative. I found the role of moderator should be quiet. Then, I wouldlike to introduce the afternoon panel, "Primary Health Care Problems in Thailandand Indonesia."

Prof.Iwamura


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22

Primary Health Care Problemsin Southern Thailand

ByDr. Traiv it Taymot hiwongse

I would like to begin my presentation by discussing the problem of languageand communication in successful primary health care development. The Muslimcount for more than 7090 of the population in Satul, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwas,with the majority of the population (more than 7090) speaking a local Malay dialect.The people, most of the older people, can't read a language. That means they don'tread even the Thai language, so certainly they don't know Malay or Arab or Englisheither. I think one of the primary health care problems for the whole country isyou have to get inside, and get inside without the benefit of using a written language.You must know the spoken languages, the dialects, and these are many.

Being a Buddhist, how do I look into the problem of southern Thailand?Well, I'm responsible for the health of a province. Pattani is a province with 470,000population, the most poverty-stricken province among the 14 provinces in southernThailand. Actually, it is not as poor as some of the provinces in the northeasternpart of Thailand. You know the habit of the southerner, they like to live easier.They like a better life. When you compare the life of the northeasterner with thedaily expenses in southern Thailand, they need more money in Pattani. The primaryhealth care problems are not only because the population is Muslim, but becauseof poverty, illiteracy and also their health status is not good.

You have heard today that things are improving. There are many programs.Gen. Harn said that the problem of Pattani is the vicious cycle of poverty, ill-healthand illiteracy. This is also the cycle of economy, health and education. As for thehealth problems, you must consider the manpower, material, money and manage-ment. But we are discussing now the factor of man, the people. When we considerthe people then, as an administrator of the province, I try to analyze the origin ofthe problem. I try to look into the type of official worker at all levels in the province:the provincial level, district level, and sub-district level. The lowest level is the sub-district level. Under that is the volunteer. Then I try to think about the acceptance,about the community of those people, of those with whom the health organizationis concerned. We don't blame the people, sometimes I try to blame ourselves also.I think it's a kind of vicious cycle between the people and the provider. When Itransfered to Pattani more than 4 years ago, I found the demand of the populationof the people is very low and the supply on the government side also is not good.


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23In Thailand,'the program of primary health care frst started with the selectionof the village health communicator and village health volunteer. It started 9 yearsago, I think 1977, and later came the idea of cooperatives; flrst the drug cooperative.The cooperatives give the volunteer something to do, not just to train the volunteerwithout having any activity. And more cooperatives are starting up. You seesanitation, water supply, also the commodities cooperatives developing later on.In Pattani, primary health care projects were started in 1977,9 years ago. Theyare improving but the activities of the volunteers are still very low. We should havemore supervision, meetings and try to select volunteers more carefully. In myprovince, I selected one of the best. Sometimes even the best volunteer is not goodenough to get the needed results in the community.To deal with people, sometimes we need to meet and select a communityleader, the village leader. He is usually Muslim because in some villages the Muslimsare 10090. This leader helps us to provide training about primary health care,especially to make a better understanding about family planning. The problemof family planning in Pattani is not always based on the religious factor. It alsodepends on the community leader. We have to try to bring those leaders with abetter understanding of family planning or any health activity. Or, sometimes youlearn by yourself, not by any teacher. That's why sometimes when the people sayno, you just let it go, going around elsewhere to work. The results of your workelsewhere may influence others to cooperate.Another problem is medical doctors to provide medical services. Thepopulation to doctor ratio in the country is about 7,000 per medical doctor. Inthe rural areas there may be only two medical doctors for every 50,000 population.Incentives, given to the medical doctor to work in the rural area by the governmentis needed. Sometimes the health officer of Pattani has to go around, to send letters,or send information to the new graduate medical doctors before they select a placeto work to try and get them to come. You see it is compulsory government servicefor 2 years for the medical graduate. But when they come, there are still manyproblems in the community because of language problems.As for educational improvements, most of the people in the locality do nothave a good understanding of the "entrance examination." They sit for the exami-nation but actually they do not pass. As Gen. Harn said we do have many specialprojects in the southern provinces of Thailand. But the projects are not successfulin allowing entry into further education that would result in more jobs.We select and follow the modules on model village development. We tryto improve the communication and language problem, and then we try to improvethe health services, both promotive and preventive. On.the village level, we tryto make the village volunteers more active. We also select and use the women'sgroup. The model of the village depends on the module, the family planning, thebaby immunization with the health center. You see, we follow the concept of primaryhealth care: self-help and self-reliance, cooperation among the leaders and volun-teers, the intersectoral coordination, and also the improvement of the health deliverysystem of the government hospital. Still n. ire.'e many problems due to pooreconomy, health and education.


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24 Primary Health Care Development in IndonesiaAs a Moslem Majority CountrYByDr. Adnan MahmoedIt's great pleasure for me to present a discussioh on Primary Health Careproblems in Indonesia. Indonesia's population is about 165 million people, makingit the fifth most populous in the world. Almost 9090 of the population are Muslims,about 150 million. It is the largest Muslim country in the world. We have morethan 13,000 islands scattered from east to west and we have 27 provinces, 351 dis-tricts, more than 3,000 subdistricts and more than 60,000 villages. Our annualgrowth based on the census of 1980 is 2.2s/o per year and the population densityis, on average, about 84 per km. sq. If we look at a certain kind of island, let us

say Java, the population density is 900 per km. sq. outside of Jakarta of course.Compare it with the island of Irianjaja near Papua, New Guinea, with only about2 people per km. sq. In South Sulawisi it's about 76 per km. sq. and the proportionof urban to rural is 20-8090.This kind of information has a relationship to primary health care develop-ment and we will look at the health problems of Indonesia indicated in the 1980census. The morbidity rate is about 9.2, based on the house-to-house survey, andthe crude death rate is 1.2. The crude birth rate is 3.4, the total fertility rate foreach family is 4.8 and the infant mortality rate is very impressive, 90 per 1000livebirths. Life expentancy at birth for females is 56 and for males is 52 years. Anotherproblem is protein and calories for the children under 5. We find that 3390 of thepopulation is in third degree malnutrition. Also, the newborn weights under 2,500grams has gone up to 2.890. As for the occurance of some communicable diseases,diarrhea is 400 per 100,000 population and tuberculosis, 3 for every 1,000 populat-ion. When we talk about basic sanitation, accessibility to clean water in the ruralareas is 3090 of the population, while in the urban areas, its 5090. Ownership oflatrines in the rural areas is only 25u/0, while in the urban areas, its 4590. From thisdata, we conclude that the potential to stay healthy for the people of Indonesia isstill low. The morbidity and mortality rates are still very high. This is why thenational health system in Indonesia has the goal for every citizen to live healthylives, achieving an optimal status of health and a productive life. It is also believedthat the key to attain this goal is primary health care development. In Indonesia,we call it "PKMD," Indonesia's contribution to the World's goal, to attain HealthFor All by the Year 2000.As for the health delivery system in our country, we have also the national11q le-qgnal hospitals with 50G1000 beds. We also have provincial hospitals with200-500 beds. In the subdistrict we have health centers with mobile h6alth unitswhere we have medical doctors. Under the sub-district, in the village level, we havethe integrated health services post with only paramedics, managed by the communityhealth volunteers. In our country, the kampung (village) has a population of about1,00G2,000 persons. We have the objective to create one integrated health servicepost for every Kampung. At this time, it has not been achieved, but we are goingto keep working toward that target.


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25When we talk about health education causing a problem,we have no problem.The people can be convinced as long as we can use appropriate strategies; forexample, combining the health message with a religious massage. It is importantto mention the family planning program. In Indonesia it is considered the mostsuccessful family planning program in the World. It's true because we have beenusing an appropriate strategy and there is no family planning problem in my country.At the beginning of the program, there were many rejections. People were thinkingthat family planning is against their religious bdHefs. The strategy we used was toconvince their community leaders and religious leaders and since then, the problemhas not existpd. The only thing the "Ulama" remains against is sterilization. Ibelieve that in 5 years, even this will change. We can still find some "hardcore"communities, but in general, family planning activities in our country are veryacceptable. Our current users are now about 6090 of all eligible couples.I would like to mention again 2-step flow communication. As the lst step,you have to approach the religious leader, get his approval, and get his support.If you go directly to the community, the religious leader will think that you aregoing to take over his influence in the community and they react to that; even ifyour idea is good. So, you have to go to the spiritual leaders first and you mustconvince them. Then, when they accept, they give us support to go together andconvince the community. When we use this approach, we respect and acknowledgethe leadership of the spiritual leaders. We utilize the leadership to convince thecommunity for the adoption of any kind of new ideas or intervention and some

strategy or approaches.There are still so many problems but we are trying to solve them (see figure l).The first one, is the difficulty of finding effective community and spiritual leadersas change agents. Secondly this also means that it's very difficult to find peoplewho can work together. When we find the best one, the program will go very well.But if these people move away, the program will run down. So, it is very difficultto find volunteers in the rural areas and among the urban poor. The third one,when participation is existing, we need a strong and continous effort for maintain-ing the participation. It is easier to begin the program than to maintain it. Thefourth, although we have some good cases, but self-reliance development is anotherthing that should be given strong attention. We have a very good project gearedto self-reliance but in general we still need strong attention to develop this kind ofstrategy. Finally, the idea of intersectoral collaboration is good on paper. Wehave known about it, but it is difficult in implementation. At the last, we wouldlike to see these kinds of ideas coming as a cornmunity movement from the bottomin the rural area or from the urban poor.I'm going to mention again about the effectiveness of using the mosque asa center for development of the community (see figure 2). For the Muslim commu-nity, a mosque is the center of spiritual development and also the social and econo-mic development of the community. The mosque is a place for strategies to beutilized to send messages to the community, because the message, when we use themosque, can be associated with the religious belief. It will be more convincingcompared with the message going alone, not associated with religious belief. Alsoin the mosque, people gather daily. They have ample time because they come there


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26Figure 1 PHC Problems in Field Implementation

Prominent Problems to be monitored:1. Difficulty of finding effective community and spiritual leaders as change

agen6.2. Volunteerism, in fact, is still scarce in rural and urban poor for pureinvolvement.3. When participation exists, we need strong and continuous efforts to

maintain the participation.4. Although we have some good cases, self-reliance in development is

another thing requiring strong attention.5. Intersectoral collaboration is easy 'on paper' but more difficult in im-plementation.

The conduct of 'essential health care' by community health volunteersthrough'IHSP' still needs strong back-up.The development of appropriate technology remains only as a modelbut needs to be introduced into the community.The existence of a 'hard-core' community which rejects new ideas with-out reasons, can still be found in some cases.

6.

8.

Dr.Adnan


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27to pray and relax. There is time to discuss and we can talk about pHC in a moreinformal way. So it is more effective. Most of the people coming to the mosqueare the decision makers in the family. In our country, I am not saying that thereis no "Woman's Liberation", but the decision-making pattern is still on the man,sside. It's now moving around to make a good share between husband and wife.But mostly the man is making the decision, even after the "International Women'sConference." The news made mention that "The woman has made her story butthe man has made history!" Sometimes the woman or the wife or the mother wouldlike to participate in family planning. Simply, the husband says ,,If you participate,I'm going to divorce you." Anything can happen. That's why its advantageousif you use the mosque, because in the mosque the family decision-maker can parti-cipate in an open discussion as a way of receiving the health message. Also thereis a kind of psychology, the security of accepting the message because it's associatedwith the religious belief. Because it has been received in the mosque, it must besuitable and it's acceptable with the religion.

Figure 2 : The Mosque, as centre for the development of the community

Messages of development gear-ed to religious beliefsPsychologically give securityof adoption to the messages people gather everythey have ample andtime -V-/

day andrelaxing

open for discussion after de-livering the messagesMost of the decision-makersof the family gather


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28

Cooperative Efforts among Muslims and Buddhists inCommunity Development : Government Agencies and Servants

ByDr. Pann Yuanlate

The Thai society is mixed with various beliefs. We have always had manybeliefs in Thailand, and so cooperation has existed from the beginning of ourNation. If we work together in the South, the cooperation must come, not onlyfrom the local people, the Buddhists and Muslims, but also from the governmentagencies. Everyone will have to cooperate for development. About 2090 of thegovernment servants are Muslims and the rest are Buddhists. We also need thegovernment civil servants' cooperation. The other level is the cooperation amongthe local villagers, Buddhists and Muslims. So, I'd like to divide the presentationinto two levels. I will talk about the cooperation and effort of the community withthe government agencies and government servants. Professor Chavewan will talkabout the local people's cooperation or the factors increasing cooperation amongthe Thai Buddhists and Thai Muslims.

I'd like to give you the socio-economic conditions for the border provincesin southern Thailand. If you look at Southern Thailand we have the shoreline,bays, and islands that are good for a coastal culture port. From Chum Phon downto Narathiwat, the agricultural resources are similar to Indonesia. We have rubberplantations, coconut plantations, orchids and some local industry; for example,rice mills, rubber factories, ice factories' mining, and saw mills. The populationof the South is about 6 million and about 250/o are Muslims. Income, per capitaper year is ptS,OOO which is about fi2,000lower than the national average incomein Thailand. F t if we look at Pattani income per year, it is the lowest in the southat t7,000 or p8,000 per year. The government policy emphasizes industry. Theessential para-rubber products are marketed by the development of central ware-houses, cooperatives, and organized factories; eliminating the middleman in or-ganizing the central market for agricultural produce at Songkhla. Songkhla isknown as the ''Capital of the South' ' . This economic base is linked with the eco-nomy of the border provinces in the South and to the rest of Thailand. To developthis linkage, the government is developing the main town of Songkhla; includingelectricity, telephones and communications, and housing establishments for manage-ment of the Institute of Labor for the Southern Region of Songkhla. For electricity,a big dam at Pattani River was developed. The main town of Songkhla is thereforealso the center for water. Numerous construction projects are being developed,including construction of a harbor at Songkhla, roads, communications, and bridgeconstruction.


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29The second goal of the development plan for the South is social development.In social development, we emphasize the indentity of Thai citizenship throughextended compulsory education for all by providing free elementary education.We offer pre-school education for the children, one year or 6 months before goingto primary school. With this special education, the children are taught to speakThai to prepare them for school. Compulsary education in primary school extendsup to grade six. To train teachers to teach Islamic religion in every level of education,The Center of Islamic Study at Songkhla University, Pattani campus, was established.Instruction in Islam is essential for the province because the majority of the popu-lation are Muslim. So, the teaching of Islam is offered at every level of education,primary level, secondary level, and higher education. At Songkhla University wehave offered an Islamic study program as a major subject for 7 years.The third goal is to promte understanding between Buddhists and Muslimsand support the Muslim religisn. We work with Muslim leaders to help them under-stand the importance of learning the Thai language and to understand the correctconcept of family planning. We try to use the phrase 'Quality of Life' or "populationeduction." We emphasize the Thai language because it is the official language andit is the government policy that all Thai citizens should know how to read and writein the official language. In Pattani and in other provinces we have difficulty becausethey speak Malay or Pattani dialect which is completely different from that spokenin Malaysia. The children learn Thai as a second language. They speak Thai atschool and go back at home and speak the Malay dialect.The government is also trying to increase farming production and to developindustry among the people. Farming production, however, remains very low. So,the target villages to generate and increase income are fisherman villages. Fordeveloping industry, the government supports fishingboat building for the coastalculture. For those not in the fisherman villages, the government introduces handi-crafts, food preservation, cloth making, or cloth weaving; trying to introduce newcareers into local villages.In the fisherman village, the targets are the poor farmers. Solving the problemof poverty in the rural areas, developing the villages of poor fisherman in Narathiwatand Pattani, involves supporting career development in order to increase income.In some fisherman villages where the government is responsible for career training,most of the participants are girls because the fishermen cling to their fishing. Theywant to fish even thought you want them to be carpenters or chicken raisers. Mostof them reject the idea and so the government has tried to introduce the harvestingof the green mussle (Thai oyster) to the lower south. This requires the skills of thefisherman, so this approach is working better than changing them to another career.The government is attempting to assure the successful management ofprivate Islamic schools by adding general subjects and occupational training. InPattani we have about 150 pesantren. I went to Indonesia about 3 years ago andlearned that the government has forced private schools to introduce secular subjectsfor about 70s/o of the curriculum and religious subjects for about 300/0. But inSouthern Thailand we must try to persuade them to introduce secular subjects.We realize that, in the past, those who went to private schools received no generaleducation. It was difficult for them to get a job or to find a carreer. So the govern-ment tries very hard to persuade them to introduce secular and occupational subjects


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30to the school. The government provided free T-shirts to the schools that introducedsecular subjects. Also the government pays the student about 15 Baht a year totake secular subjects. This is just encouraging the private religious schools to in-troduce more secular subjects in the hopes of preparing their graduates for employ-ment.

To help the orphans and the poor children receive an education, the govern-ment supports special schools and home centers. In almost every province on theborder, they have these types of schools for orphans and children from poor families.We call them "welfare schools." There are some families that are so poor theycan't afford to send their children to school. So, they can send them to this schoolfree. Youth development in the Southern border provinces is a special case. ManyMuslim youths from the schools have no knowledge of career or occupation. Thegovernment sees the problem and has quite a few youth training programs especiallyfor technical skill development. Songkhla University has youth training programsfor community leadership; working in cooperation with the Rural AccelerationDepartment. Also the Ministry of Interior has programs in career training, forexample, electrical welding, motorcycle repair, TV-radio repair, and water pumprepair. Why does the government emphasize these programs? At the primarylevel, about 8090 of the school children are Muslims. At the secondary level only27s/o are Muslim and73s/o Buddhist. So what do Thai Muslims do then after primaryeducation? Most of them go to private schools and some stay at home and helptheir parents work. So the government must offer youth training programs fortheir economic development.

To develop the role of women in the southern border provinces is also aspecial case. "Youth" means boys and girls and the women, too. We work incooperation with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Interior for youthand women; training them in the things necessary for the home, for the women'scareer for example, food and nutrition, child care, sanitation, family planning,quality of life, cloth making and handicrafts.The most difficult of the plans is solving the problem of land.{or the people

in the rural area. So far the main target is the poor people in the district. For thefarmer,'the government teaches land use development. Along the coast, insteadof doing nothing, the government tries to reform the coast into fishponds or togrow mangroves along the shoreline. The government tries to accelerate the useof vacant forests in order to help the farmers who have no land to occupy.So this is what I would like to mention as government policies in the nationaleconomic and social development plan; activities that have been conducted underits operation.


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31Cooperative Efforts among The Muslims and rhe Buddhists

In Community Development: Local CommunitiesByDr. C havewon Wannaprasert

Mulsims in the southern part of Thailand are quite different from theMuslims in Bangkok or in the other parts of the country. They are also differentfrom Muslims in Indonesia. Why? Because Pattani is the central part of the Islamiccivilization there. So, we start about 75 years ago and find that some of the Malayseven studied in Pattani. We are very proud of Pattani Province. we try very hardin the South, with the Prime Minister, and the Secretary of the Prime Minister'sOifice in Bangkok, to bring the Buddhists and Muslims together in the community.Now Buddhists and Muslims work together to collect data, make plans to findsupport and construct a budget for community development, to cooperation main-tenance of the project and to set up training. We find they are very happy to worktogether.The first factor in encouraging cooperation is the role of the governmentofficer or the civil servant. They play a very important role in bringing Muslimsand Buddhists together, but it also depends on the location of the settlement. In

one settlement, the Buddhist group and the Muslim group may work together. Insome villages, they work separately. If the government officer goes directly (I meanthe social worker, agricultural worker, or home economics worker) to the villageand works with them, they will eventually convince the people. But the people,Buddhists and Muslims, will not accept them until they watch the governmentofficers to see if they are honest and sincere. If they are honest and sincere andwork hard, the Buddhists and Muslims will welcome their help and try to cooperatein finding the problems in the village and their solutions.The district officer and governor can play a very important role also. InNaratiwat Province, the governor has become involved in many projects in many

villages by using civil servants to work on projects introduced by the social workerand the district officer. If the Buddhists and the Muslims accept this idea, it willwork very well with few problems at all. The Muslims will accept the idea fromthe district officer very fast. However, the Buddhists will not accept the idea fromthe district officer until the project is seen as very useful. So, it takes a longer timeto convince the Buddhists.

The local leaders are very important to new ideas in the village. The ThaiBuddhists pay respect to the monk at the wat. Every village has a wat, a temple atthe center of the community. The Muslim have a mosque for the community religiouscenter. The religious leaders are helpful in convincing the people because Buddhistsand Muslims in every village follow what thcir r"ligious leaders say, paying morerespect to their religious leaders than any other person in the village.


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32 At the sub-district level, Buddhists and Muslims select sometimes a Buddhistand sometimes a Muslim to be the head of the sub-district. At this level, it dependsupon the characteristics or the achievements of the person. They don't care aboutreligion. Anyone, whether Buddhist or Muslim, can be the sub-district leader. Ifthey are a good person and they work hard with achievements, people in the sub-district pay respect to them.Another problem we have to work through is the government's tendencyto plan development projects according to common need or general interest. Some-times these projects are culturally inappropriate in some localities or simply notneeded in some villages. For example, the Minister of Interior made it policy forevery tambon to collect rain water. The Muslims in the South don't drink rainwater because they believe the water is not clean. They say can't wash their facewith it before they go to pray. It is against Islamic law. However, the governmentofficer may not know why they don't want to do it. Therefore, they try to forcethem. We even give them materials and ask them to make the jars. Even so, thepeople won't do it. Many problems come up for the officer who does not knowIslam well or does not know the Islamic ways of life. When it comes to religiousbeliefs, traditions, and customs, sometimes the people think they cannot do projectsbecause of religious beliefs. Before we set up community development, we shouldlearn what Islam is and what Buddhism is. The social worker or officer should goto see Muslim and Buddhist leaders and discuss with them the best way to makeplans for community development. The officer must not only know Buddhismbut also Islam. Then, they can work together very well.

In the Muslim community, it's quite difficult for the woman. According toIslamic law, the woman has to follow or pay respect to her husband. But she earnsmoney, as you say "Income Generation." The Muslim woman in the South worksvery hard because they have to earn money. Some men stay at home so the womanhas to take care of the husband. The women here are very strict in following Islamiclaw. Indeed, Muslims in the South, especially in Pattani, Yala and Naratiwat,are very strict in following Islamic law. For example, many will not accept familyplanning because they misunderstand the meaning of family planning. In theirviewpoint, family planning means birth control. We have a hard time convincingthem and trying to encourage them to change their attitude. For the woman, wehave to change her attitude to the man. To the local leaders, we try to change itto a "Population Education" project. We try to support family planning by using"Population Education" as the project title.In the South, Muslims and Buddhists are very poor with large families anda problem of malnutrition. I just finished a project about food habits of the popu-lation in Southern Thailand and I found the Muslims have more malnutrition thanthe Buddhists. It takes time to make them understand the meaning of family plan-ning so we present "Population Education" which is the best for the Muslim.In "Population Education" we emphasize a smaller family size, delayedmarriage through further education and study, and child spacing through two-yearbreast feeding recommendations. We have made these emphases consistent withIslamic Law by caling upon local Muslim resource persons, the Islamic Committees,to help us write and produce the educational materials used in the Population Edu-cation project. So in this way we can motivate them to follow the populationeducation recommendations.


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33

Summary of Afternoon DiscussionDr. Iwamura opened the afternoon discussion session by posing two questions:1. How to raise the level of activity of grassroots volunteers, particularly' the women? How to encourage, for instance, successful mothers to beon the frontier for the primary health care program?2. How to activate volunteers in a Muslim societv?

RESPONSE:Dr. Adnan: As for the woman's participation in the primary health care program,all these activities are well managed by the women. But, in important decisionmaking, the prominent role in the family is for the husband. And, I am talkingin reference to the rural area, the man makes the decision but the woman is "justin back of her husband." I have a primary health care project for developing thewoman's role in decision making. Before we started the program, we had the hypo-thesis that the woman makes very few decisions because she's not the one to feedthe family; the man earns the money. To develop the program and to have a basicline of information, we made a survey about who makes the decision in familyplanning. We found wives willing to make the decision in family planning thoughmost of the responses are the husbands'. Then, we educated the women on incomegeneration, marketing or raising cooperatives, and they realized money from it.After 4 years of implementation, we find the role of women changed. How canwe change the role of the woman? Through educational intervention. The develop-ment of the woman's role through this kind of program is very enriching, and inour country, there is a very great acceptance of the women's organization, especiallyin primary health care. This program successfully encourages activity by all womenin this area.


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34QUESTION: What specific projects are underway in Southern Thailand to assurea higher quality of life for Muslims, especially for Muslim youthsin attaining an education?RESPONSE:Dr. Traivit: When we look at the infrastructure, the government has contributedto this. Now we have good roads, more feeder road$ to the main roads. This isgood for the transportation of agricultural products. The government providedfree electrical wirings through the village. I think next year every village in the 4provinces will have electricity. In other parts of Thailand, the government has notgiven free wiring and electricity to the villages. The local people had to pay half thecost. But in this area, the government just gave it free. They pay only for the useof electricity.

As for education, why is the Muslim education far behind the Buddhisteducation? Education in Thailand is oriented around the palace, and is in connectionwith the Buddhist monastery. This is a practice all over the country; even in theareas with a Muslim society. The Muslims are reluctant. They did not send theirchildren to the school, neither to the monastery nor the temple, because the Buddhistmonks are the teachers. When education was provided beyond the Buddhist boundaryin the village, without thinking books on ethics about Buddha were introduced.and so the Muslims were still afraid their children might be converted to the Bud-dhist religion. They continued not to send their children. The government realizedthis and got rid of the books. The schools now offer Islam in all primary, secondary,and higher education levels. Now Muslim children go to government schools andso the government has made every effort for their education. Primary schoolswere placed in every village, in every area. The secondary school is in the largercommunities. They encouraged the schools to introduce more secular subjects.However, when we had competitive examinations for an official post or when theuniversity entrance examination was given, most of the Muslim students wouldfail. They could not compete with Thai Buddhists. But now, Thai Muslims arecompeting with Thai Buddhist. So, in the future, with the introduction of moresecular subjects, Muslim education will meet the same standard as Buddist Education.Prof. Chavewan: Our government, the Ministry of Interior, instituted a policythat every university will fill a special quota to admit Muslim students to study.It was started 9 years ago, first with Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Chiang Mai,and Songkhla Universities. A lot of the students that meet the special quota forthe Muslims are from the southern part of Thailand.FINAL SUMMARY RESPONSE:Dr. Adnan: Listening to what has been presented and your comments on the problemsin Southern Thailand in the Muslim community, you have suggested that actuallywe need another kind of policy. Through there are many efforts in the South, theoverall problem is merely a socio-economic condition that must be developed.This morning we have listened to Dr. Surin who said that the Muslim people must


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35create a balance between the spiritual and physical, but what we are doing is somuch an emphasis in the reverse! We have to consider also how to develop thespiritual; whether or not the government has given the authority to practice theirreligious beliefs. We have to see that the government sets a policy to support orencourage the people in their spiritual development.I think we also must consider the psychology that becomes human naturewhen we come to the minority. As you mention, we are the majority in the Southbut we are the minority overall in Thailand. The psychology of the minority isoften to reject or negatively prejudice anything coming from the outside. Keepingthis in mind the minority asks, "why do we have to accept family planning? weare thinking that if we practice family planning our number becomes less." perhapsthe people do not say this consciously but maybe they think this in their heart. ,,IfI practice family planning, I will become smaller and smaller, so we remain always

the minority." With this psychology of the minority and because developers thinkin another way, economic development in cooperative efforts like agriculture,fishingor any other kind, we are just confusing them with family planning. We are tryingto find many kinds of terminologies for family planning like spacing or delayedmarriage. Sometimes we are faced with terrible population problems, then we sayplanned parenthood or responsible parenthood. You can have as many childrenas you like as long as you become "responsible parents." If you are wealthy, youcan have l0 children. Or think about your mother and your wife because after 3-4children, it becomes a high risk and be responsible not to make the wife at risk.This is the thing I'd like to emphasize. While we give multiple and often confusingmessages about family planning and its relationship to overall economic develop-ment, we have not considered the psychology of the minority in the south, thepeople's feelings, thdt regardless of our well-being, our Muslim numbers becomeless and less.


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36Concluding Remarks

National Social Development: Fear of Cultural Loss,Disenchantment, and Social Unrest

ByMelanie L. Sovine, Ph.D.

Throughout the conference, an underlying theme was common to bothpresentors and participants: In the face of potential gain through social and eco-nomic development, the local people often fear loss and therefore resist programsof change. This reaction is not surprising as fear and resistance are common psy-chological responses to change. Neither is this reaction unfounded. Certainly inthe past decades, well-intended developmental efforts have been detrimental anddemoralizing to local people and local cultures. Therefore, while the plans fordevelopmental change may be well-conceived in their theoretical and conceptualformats, their implementation in daily life, in the context of local beliefs, attitudesand behaviors, is complicated and never wholly successful.This conference examined Primary Health Care development in two localities,Southern Thailand and Indonesia; both of which are predominantly Muslim settings.The conference, as a whole, has compelled us to consider ethnicity and religiosityas positive contributions to national development, and to continue to work success-fully towards Primary Health Care development in Islamic Regions by carefullylistening to the people undergoing development.

Synthesizing from the comments, three specific kinds of loss can be indentified:LOSS OF SELF.DETERMINATION AND SELF.RELIANCE: A flEATthat development projects will produce further dependency on and represent un-wanted impositions from the governments, national and multinational, resulting

in the loss of local initiative.LOSS OF THE PRESENT COMMUNITY SOCIAL ORGANIZATION:a fear that programs of social and economic change will disintegrate life as it iscurrently understood to function by the local people, taking with it social support

systems and other aspects of social well-being resulting in social disorganizationand psychological disorientation.LOSS OF HUMANITY: a fear that social development authorities willundermine the existing systems of authority and leadership, including especially

religious leadership, resulting in an over-secularization of daily life and its sacreddemensions.At the extreme, these losses can result in a pervasive sense of culture loss,a community-wide feeling of social and psychological loss brought on by uncontrolledand unwanted culture change. At this stage whole societies seem to be immobilizedby a feeling of community grief, and appear to be mourning the loss of everythingthey once held dear.


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37

In concern for avoiding these losses and working effectively against re-sistance, strategies for a more culturally appropriate and sensitive developmentwere presented in this conference. Taken collectively, the strategies enhance socialintegration and thereby, cultural preservation. These strategies may be organizedaround the following principles for effective local development.INTEGRITY: It is important to believe in the integrity of local people, intheir beliefs and ways of life, especially their religious traditions.INTERPRETATION: It is important to re-interpret the concepts and goalsof development programs within the people's existing belief system, thereby avoid-unnecessary and unproductive confrontations.IDENTIFICATION AND INTEGRATION: It is important to identifythe existing community leaders, especially spiritual leaders, and to integrate thisnative leadership as.co-workers in the development plans. Development projectworkers must avoid whole-sale imposition of their own official hierarchy uponthe community.INCLUSION: It is important not to deny existing differences among peoplebut to celebrate them. Development plans must include provisions for all peopleregardless of ethnicity, social class or caste, or religious persuasion. Cultural plu-ralism must characterize regional, national, and world development plans.INFORMATION: It is important to acknowledge the basic human rightof open access to information about health and well-being; making every attemptto overcome communication and language barriers that may be operative. Theright to be informed does not guarantee acceptance of knowledge. However, thenecessity of knowing should not be measured by presence or absence of acceptance.

DR.Sovine


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38 ln summary, these principles suggest that social and economic developmentneed not result in a sense of culture loss nor must it be a GodJess, wholly seculari-zing process. This can be avoided by the effective use of cultural-level components,for example using religious traditions, in development plans.

The remarks thus far imply that people will respond positively to social andeconomic development projects if the goals and the plans include a visible appre-ciation for local culture and traditions. An alternative perspective was offeredduring the conference, Added to the focus on fear and resistance to loss was thefact of general lack of well-being among poor people. While planners and developersmay perceive resistance based on local religious principles, the people actuallymaybe expressing, through religious language, the authentic social and economicdistress that characterizes their daily lives. Social development, in this perspective,is not singularly a process of planned change involving cultural maintenance.Development also must address the problematical realities of poverty, illiteracy,and poor health status. Social development must be both culturally appropriateand socially corrective of complex social problems. Added to the concern for thecultural integrity of the people, then, is a concern for their economic integritywherein equity in resource access (e.g. entry into educational institutions) andresource success (e.g. successful passing of examinations) can be enhanced throughdevelopment projects. Practically speaking, if gaining employment that allowsfor an improved quality of life is the visible result of development projects, thenlocal people will actively participate in social and economic development efforts.Social unrest in continued situations of inequality and poverty, and dis-enchantment for hierarchically imposed, authoritarian development plans are bothproblems the participants in the conference wish to avoid. A general guidelinewas very clear at the end of the day: National Development should promote equityand self-reliance and promote cultural (specifically spiritual) and socioeconomicwell-being for all people.


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ASEAN TRAINING CENTREFORPRIMARY HEALTH CARE DEVELOPMENT

Mahidol Univenity, Salaya Cawus25/5 htthamonthon 1, fulayaNakhoncluisri, NakhonPat hom

a seminar on islam and national development

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