ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the strength of ethnic-group consciousness among the southern Muslims is closely related to the geographic and socio-economic conditions of Muslim community and much less to the fact that it is an Islamic community. A major premise of the governments policy is that Thai education will help to integrate the Muslims into Thai society and to that extent reduce tensions. A recent extensive study of patterns of government expenditure in Thailand shows that the government has given a distinct preference to the Muslim-populated border provinces in distributing national resources for education. The politicisation of students constitutes perhaps the most dramatic development in modern Thai politics, and it is not particularly surprising that southern Muslim students are critical of government policy. The criteria and reference points for criticism differ, however. Thai Buddhist students called for changes in the name of political and economic, while southern Muslim students call for justice in the name of race and religion.
