南タイ のソンラク政治にみられるムスリム- 仏教徒関係 : 「サムサム」的ムスリム社会における宗教と政治

Abstract

Muslims in Southern Thailand can be classified into two types : Malay-speaking Muslims on the east coast, where most of Muslim political movements in Thailand have taken place; and Thai-speaking Muslims, who are supposed to be descendants of "Sam Sam" (people supposed to be a mixture of Thai and Malay), on the west coast, where few political problems arise involving Muslims. In the first part, I examine how the religious categories of Islam and Buddhism relate to the political process in village-level elections in a western coastal village-level elections in a western coastal village where Muslims and Buddhists live together and both speak the same Southern Thai dialect. In the second part, I deal with an unsuccessful political movement of Muslims for the recall of a Buddhist village headman. From scrutiny of this movement, it appears that the difference in religious category does not tend to be politicized when difference in daily life between Muslims and Buddhists is minimal, as is the case in this village. The difference in religion does not necessarily bring out political antagonism between the two religious groups unless it is twisted in a certain political context.