Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the southern Thai city of Hat Yai for an international conference on education. It was my first visit there and I was impressed by the degree to which the city had become internationalized. Southern Thailand is a region in which Muslim Thais outnumber the Buddhists who are dominant in the rest of the Kingdom. These are not only Malays and other non-Thai ethnic groups but also quite large numbers of Hokkien Muslims from China. Indeed, evidence of the very high number of Chinese people in Hat Yai was everywhere. This was accentuated by the close links with Singapore as well as Malaysia that was evident in the number of tourist businesses, transportation links, newspapers and food available.
Hat Yai has achieved a central position in the growth triangle that has been established between Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The growth triangle concept is based on the idea that geographical areas that border each other may have very different endowments of important resources. These might include manpower, minerals, money or expertise. If it were possible to bring together these different types of resources, then there should be a higher level of efficiency in production. Several different areas have been identified as suitable growth triangle centres, although to date there still remain problems with political issues of ownership and responsibility, together with insufficient human resource skills and abilities. However, at a comparatively low and informal level, Hat Yai is already benefiting from this strategy.
The geography of the southern region of Thailand is not very conducive to successful agriculture, although it is quite fertile enough with skilful and determined adaptation. Villages in the region are divided into fishing villages, fruit farming villages and specialized agricultural villages. As the famous Thai anthropologist Chatthip Nartsupha has observed, those villages tend to have anarchistic tendencies in which villagers would much prefer to govern themselves and have no desire to be governed by the central state. Recent months have seen a resurgence of the desire for autonomy for the southern region and there is currently violence on an almost daily basis.
The province of Songkhla, in which Hat Yai is located, borders Malaysia's Kedah and there are many types of trade between the two. There are also various types of cultural interaction. However, there is still very little understanding between the people of the two countries. Few Malaysians speak Thai and vice versa; few if any Malaysian films or television stars are recognised by Thais and again vice versa. It is to be hoped that Hat Yai will be able to develop in such a way that this ignorance is dispelled.
Hat Yai has achieved a central position in the growth triangle that has been established between Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The growth triangle concept is based on the idea that geographical areas that border each other may have very different endowments of important resources. These might include manpower, minerals, money or expertise. If it were possible to bring together these different types of resources, then there should be a higher level of efficiency in production. Several different areas have been identified as suitable growth triangle centres, although to date there still remain problems with political issues of ownership and responsibility, together with insufficient human resource skills and abilities. However, at a comparatively low and informal level, Hat Yai is already benefiting from this strategy.
The geography of the southern region of Thailand is not very conducive to successful agriculture, although it is quite fertile enough with skilful and determined adaptation. Villages in the region are divided into fishing villages, fruit farming villages and specialized agricultural villages. As the famous Thai anthropologist Chatthip Nartsupha has observed, those villages tend to have anarchistic tendencies in which villagers would much prefer to govern themselves and have no desire to be governed by the central state. Recent months have seen a resurgence of the desire for autonomy for the southern region and there is currently violence on an almost daily basis.
The province of Songkhla, in which Hat Yai is located, borders Malaysia's Kedah and there are many types of trade between the two. There are also various types of cultural interaction. However, there is still very little understanding between the people of the two countries. Few Malaysians speak Thai and vice versa; few if any Malaysian films or television stars are recognised by Thais and again vice versa. It is to be hoped that Hat Yai will be able to develop in such a way that this ignorance is dispelled.
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