<div><em>Thailand’s assimilation policy in the past 80 years on the Muslim Malay in Thailand’s three southern border provinces, known as Patani, has been repeatedly cited as one of the main reasons for the armed struggle, claiming almost 6500 lives already. Due to this uncompromising assimilation policy, the state of the Malay language in Patani has become very weak and marginalized. As the peace process has progressed, concerns about the linguistic rights of the local people have been raised and will be included in discussions at the dialogue table.&nbsp;</em></div> <p></p>

<div> <div> <div><em>“Patani” is now a very controversial term used to refer to the area encompassing the provinces of Pattani (with 2 t’s,), Yala, Narathiwat, and 4 provinces of Songkhla, mostly inhabited by Malay Muslims and infamous in the news for being a space of conflict. The term arguably carries a strong sense of separatism. The increasing use of the term by CSO, media and the separatists themselves raises concerns among the non-Malay Muslim whether they are included as Patani people and if they will have a say in the right to determine the future of the region.</em></div> </div> <div> </div></div>

<div> <div> <div>The Thai state has barely learned the lessons on the conflict of Thailand’s restive Deep South, voiced experts and locals during an event to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Haji Sulong Tohmeena, a local political icon who campaigned for the rights of Muslim Malays.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“The Thai state wants to crush and erase Haji Sulong. They don’t want people to speak about Haji Sulong. The Thai state has acted like this all along. </div></div></div>