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Viewing cable 06CHIANGMAI117, NORTHERN MUSLIMS CULTIVATE MODERATE IMAGE

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06CHIANGMAI117 2006-07-21 08:29 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Chiang Mai
VZCZCXRO7220
PP RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0117/01 2020829
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210829Z JUL 06
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0235
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0509
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 0269
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU PRIORITY 0037
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHIANG MAI 000117 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
FOR ECA/PE, ECA/A, IIP/G/EAP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PNAT PHUM KPAO OEXC OIIP TH
SUBJECT: NORTHERN MUSLIMS CULTIVATE MODERATE IMAGE 
 
REF: A) CHIANG MAI 71    B) CHIANG MAI 67 (05) 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000117  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
1. (U) Summary:  With 17 mosques and the largest percentage of 
Muslims outside of Thailand's southern provinces, Chiang Mai is 
regarded as a model of inter-cultural harmony.   One important 
element is a Provincial Islamic Committee (PIC)  that cultivates 
a moderate, scholarly image and works closely with local 
authorities.  Representatives of this ethnically diverse 
community take every opportunity to ask the Consulate for 
exchange programs, English teachers, and speakers.  End summary 
 
2. (U) The Muslim community in northern Thailand has been firmly 
established for over a century, with the first arrivals probably 
Bengali cattle traders as early as 1830, followed by traders 
from China's Yunnan province.   Northern Muslims today are a 
multi-ethnic group descended from these migrants plus later 
arrivals from China, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma, 
Malaysia and southern Thailand.  All of these groups adhere to 
Sunni beliefs and practices. 
 
 3. (SBU) Estimates of the actual number of Muslims in Chiang 
Mai province vary widely.   The lowest estimate of 30,000 comes 
from the Provincial Islamic Committee, which is consistent with 
its efforts to keep a low profile.  A local police source puts 
the number at 45,000 in a province of 1.6 million.  A recent 
newspaper report used 60,000.  Another Muslim contact claims 
that adding unregistered Muslims could bring the actual total to 
around 100,000, or 6-8 percent of the population.  Unregistered 
Muslims would include groups such as illegal Burmese migrants, 
undocumented Yunannese migrants, and southerners drawn north by 
a stable environment, good climate, business opportunities, and 
abundant large mosques. 
 
Local Muslim roots lie in China, South Asia 
------------------------------------------- 
 
4. (U) Mosques in the northern-most areas of this region (Fang, 
Mae Sai) are ethnically Yunnanese while in the western area 
around Mae Sariang (ref a), most Muslims are of South Asian 
origin.  Chiang Mai combines both:  the former President of 
Chiang Mai's Provincial Islamic Council (PIC), Imam Mustafa 
Hassan, is the son of a Bangladeshi merchant while the present 
chairman, Palangkul Wong-luekiat, is the grandson of a caravan 
trader from the Kunming area. 
 
5. (SBU) An increasing number of southern Thais reportedly are 
moving into the region, drawn by a stable environment, good 
climate, business opportunities, and abundant large mosques. 
Many local Islamic leaders are active in the trade and tourism 
sectors; they recognize that peace and stability are important 
business assets.  During July, substantial groups of Middle 
Eastern tourists are visible in town and at selected hotels; 
tourism statistics for 2004 and 2005 show that approximately 
3-4% of foreign visitors came from the Middle East.  Chiang Mai 
also hosts a Turkish-run academically competitive Thai-English 
bilingual school, Wichai Wittaya, with a 25 percent Muslim 
student population. (ref b) 
 
Muslim speakers prove popular 
----------------------------- 
 
6. (U) The Consulate enjoys good relations with the PIC, which 
co-hosted Public Affairs-sponsored U.S. Muslim speakers in July 
2005 and 2006.  Both programs drew Chiang Mai audiences of 
almost 200; this year's speaker, Thai-American Imam Rahmat 
Phyakul from Al-Fatiha Mosque in Los Angeles, took the show on 
the road to Doi Angkhang, Fang, Mae Salong, and Mae Sai, 
attracting 150-200 enthusiastic participants at each stop. 
The PIC also assisted the Consulate in reaching out to the 
Muslim community of Mae Sariang, in Mae Hong Son province; we 
subsequently selected the Imam of the Mae Sariang mosque for an 
International Visitor program on religious and ethnic diversity. 
 
 
7. (SBU) Both Muslim leaders and local officials, including 
police and military, are alert to any possibility that southern 
tensions could spread to the north.  Reports of visitors 
delivering "jihadist" sermons at local mosques six months ago as 
well as a controversy over elections to the PIC last November 
drew official, albeit discrete, attention.  There are no 
indications that radical sentiments have found a foothold in the 
north. 
 
8. (SBU) Although a majority of Muslims in rural areas are poor 
farmers with little education, their city cousins include many 
with an internationalist outlook.  The Consul General met Pam 
Kannaporn Akrapisan, special program coordinator at Payap 
University's International Affairs Department, when she 
interpreted for the 2005 Muslim speaker program.  Kannaporn 
studied at Western Michigan covers her head, eats halal food, 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000117  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
and is agitating for a Muslim prayer room at Payap, a Christian 
institution. 
 
9. (U) Concerned by anti-Muslim comments she overheard in a 
Chiang Mai book store one day, Kannaporn wrote an impassioned 
letter last year to both English-language papers in Bangkok. 
Her article asked Muslims to "set a good example and show 
society what we are really about".  She also told the head of 
government "you are going the wrong way" and suggested sending 
educated Islamic gurus to the south rather than "troupes of 
movie stars and celebrities." 
 
10. (SBU) Kannaporn told the CG how important it is to show 
young Thai Muslims that Muslims in the US can go to mosque, eat 
halal food, and get religious education.  She praised the 
Department's publication on "Muslim Life in America" and urged 
that the Consulate host more speaker programs and offer youth 
exchanges. 
 
Why is it hard for Muslims to get visas? 
---------------------------------------- 
 
11.(U)  Audiences at Imam Rahmat's four programs in northern 
Thailand drove home the desire for U.S. help in improving 
educational opportunities for their children.   At the 
conclusion of the final presentation in the border town of Mae 
Sai, the mosque leader called the Consul General to the 
microphone to answer three questions:  what will the U.S. do to 
assist exchanges, can the U.S. send English teachers to the 
community, and why is it so hard for Muslims to get visas? 
Fortunately an AFS student applicant - a high school girl who 
had been selected to introduce the Imam in English -- presented 
one route to the goals that the mosque leader presented. 
 
12.  (u) Comment:  Chiang Mai's well-integrated Muslim community 
offers a moderate Muslim model for the area.  The recent 
northern tour by Thai-speaking American Imam Rahmat showed 
widespread interest in even rural communities about how Muslims 
live, work, eat, and practice their religion in the U.S. 
Greater U.S. Government attention via exchange programs would 
pay dividends in Thailand and the region in demonstrating the 
values of an ecumenical, locally relevant Islam that lives side 
by side with other religions. 
SIGNATURE