Preliminary Findings on Educational Choices of Language Loyalty and Belonging among Nayu Youths

Abstract

The subject matter of this paper briefly addressed how the role educational choices had impact on sense of Patani Malay sense of belonging among male and female Malay students from urban and rural communities. What was their strength of belonging to Buddhist-dominated Thailand? What was the degree of comfort that young Nayu people feel towards the State? This brief ethnographically-focused paper revealed that social cohesion to the Thai concept of belonging among Malay young people educated in Thai public schools and especially those servicing urban communities is higher than graduates of either Private Islamic Schools or Traditional Pondok schools. Equally important, Patani Melayu (hereby referred to as Nayu) young people who did not educate in Thai public schools expressed a sense of discomfort, and alienation from the Thai State. This paper therefore explored the gendered interplay between education and language loyalty, and the impact on social cohesion or alienation in multilingual South Thailand.