The Islamization of Thailand

[Jonathan Fairfield]

The Islamization of Thailand

BANGKOK:-- The perceived relative homogeneity of Thai culture and society is being challenged on multiple fronts today.

So much has been said about the socio-economic division within Thai society, epitomized by the ‘red’ versus ‘yellow’ shirt movements, and political outcomes over the last decade and a half. However very little is said, publicly anyway, about the growing influence upon society that Thailand’s Muslim population is now projecting at many levels.

The current Muslim population of Thailand is between 5-6%, depending upon which set of statistics you consult. This consists of a number of dispersed ethnic groups throughout the country. About 18% of Thailand’s Muslims live within the Southern provinces of Songkhla, Satun, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, who are primarily of the Malay, Javanese, and Acehnese origins, agricultural based, that practice the ‘Malay’ culture. These groups are domiciled around what was the former Greater Petanni Sultanate that came to being around 9th Century and was annexed by Thailand in 1909 from British influence.

Read more: http://asiancorrespondent.com/134054/the-islamization-of-thailand/

[Rob8891]

How on earth is this the "islamisation of Thailand"? Good God, it must be a slow day for news....

[h90]

Everywhere the same problem. Muslims get more children than Buddhists or Christs.

Moderate Muslims also get less children than radical one.

[Bluespunk]

Some stories contain BS.

Some stories are BS.

This story however is in a world class standard of BS all of its own.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Bluespunk

[Bluespunk]

"Read more: http://asiancorrespo...on-of-thailand/"

I did and wish I hadn't.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Bluespunk

[h90]

"Read more: http://asiancorrespo...on-of-thailand/"

I did and wish I hadn't.

that link links back to Thaivisa

[roamer]

"Read more: http://asiancorrespo...on-of-thailand/"

I did and wish I hadn't.

that link links back to Thaivisa

It does. Correct link below.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/134054/the-islamization-of-thailand/

[Bluespunk]

"Read more: http://asiancorrespo...on-of-thailand/"

I did and wish I hadn't.

that link links back to Thaivisa

Click on it on the bottom of the OP it takes you to the rest of the turgid BS that passes for journalism in this story.

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Althought the relevant article is piffle, this is an issue that is very much alive for Phuket.

It is also one facet of the many reasons why I recently chose to move from the Island.

There is another popular thread running talking about how dead Patong is at the moment. That may be true but what has not been discussed is the significant shift in the demographic of the visitors to Phuket. There is a huge influx of chinese. That is a given. But they are zero dollar tourists, who rarely venture out of their packaged group environment to interface with workaday thai folk. If the Chinese stock market continues to tank then these visitors may well dry up, or if they tire of the scams, for example being bused in to a mall to buy latex products that were imported from China and then put in a bag labelled made in Thailand, they will go elsewhere.

But, chinese aside, who are the new source markets for Phuket tourists? What I see on the ground are morrocans, kuwaitees, iranians, and other muslim visitors. A growing trend I have observed is muslim men, with their wifes, walking down Bangla. Why on earth a married muslim would want to walk with his wife on a street filled with prostitutes and bars selling alcohol is beyond me but there you go. As the Chinese dry up, or wise up, to Phuket, the remaining tourist demographic will be Muslim men. Of course they are only staying in Patong for its great mosque. If, in the near future, the bulk of vistors to Phuket are muslim, it would seem safe to assume that the tourist areas will eventually undergo total Islamization. Not a big leap for Kamala, or Bang Tao.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Bulldozer Dawn

[tbthailand]

the title of the piece is complete non-sense. It's just click baiting...

Thailand has an islamic population, ... wow, that's not islamization...

[tonbridgebrit]

God Almighty, it's this nonsense again. Basically, halal food is harmless, and kebabs are good. It's not a problem if these kebab shops appear in lots of places. I was pissed out of mind on Friday night, and had a extra-large doner kebab. The only problem being that it cost £7.00, seven pounds, that's a bit over ten US dollars.

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Turkish-Doner-Lamb-Kebab2-iStock.jpg

God Almighty, it's this nonsense again. Basically, halal food is harmless, and kebabs are good. It's not a problem if these kebab shops appear in lots of places. I was pissed out of mind on Friday night, and had a extra-large doner kebab. The only problem being that it cost £7.00, seven pounds, that's a bit over ten US dollars.

Hilarious. The net result of Phuket morphing into an Islamic community is an increased availability of kebabs.

[Bluespunk]

Althought the relevant article is piffle, this is an issue that is very much alive for Phuket.

It is also one facet of the many reasons why I recently chose to move from the Island.

There is another popular thread running talking about how dead Patong is at the moment. That may be true but what has not been discussed is the significant shift in the demographic of the visitors to Phuket. There is a huge influx of chinese. That is a given. But they are zero dollar tourists, who rarely venture out of their packaged group environment to interface with workaday thai folk. If the Chinese stock market continues to tank then these visitors may well dry up, or if they tire of the scams, for example being bused in to a mall to buy latex products that were imported from China and then put in a bag labelled made in Thailand, they will go elsewhere.

But, chinese aside, who are the new source markets for Phuket tourists? What I see on the ground are morrocans, kuwaitees, iranians, and other muslim visitors. A growing trend I have observed is muslim men, with their wifes, walking down Bangla. Why on earth a married muslim would want to walk with his wife on a street filled with prostitutes and bars selling alcohol is beyond me but there you go. As the Chinese dry up, or wise up, to Phuket, the remaining tourist demographic will be Muslim men. Of course they are only staying in Patong for its great mosque. If, in the near future, the bulk of vistors to Phuket are muslim, it would seem safe to assume that the tourist areas will eventually undergo total Islamization. Not a big leap for Kamala, or Bang Tao.

If that is the tourist demographic they are aiming to attract then fair enough, be more Muslim friendly.

However the term islaminisation has darker connotations than a method of attracting tourists.

This article's title suggests a more sinister meaning and that is pure BS (not your post, which frankly was a more interesting read)

[cumgranosalum]

firstly one has to think that the title is actually happening and then consider it ti be a matter for concern....both are utter tosh so rather a waste of time by the author...

[Sabrinus]

Maybe some propaganda but makes for an interesting view.

[AyG]

Basically, halal food is harmless

Not if you're a sheep or a chicken it's not. You end up being barbarically slaughtered to satisfy the dictats of a 7th century Arabian war lord.

[Bluespunk]

Basically, halal food is harmless

Not if you're a sheep or a chicken it's not. You end up being barbarically slaughtered to satisfy the dictats of a 7th century Arabian war lord.

The butchery of animals is barbaric in any slaughterhouse.

As for factory farm chicken sheds, a vision of hell. I lasted one day in one at a farm. Appalling experience.

[wellred]

Turkish-Doner-Lamb-Kebab2-iStock.jpg

God Almighty, it's this nonsense again. Basically, halal food is harmless, and kebabs are good. It's not a problem if these kebab shops appear in lots of places. I was pissed out of mind on Friday night, and had a extra-large doner kebab. The only problem being that it cost £7.00, seven pounds, that's a bit over ten US dollars.

It's not harmless. For some people with religious beliefs they cannot consume meat from an animal which was made to suffer at the point of death.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wellred]

Maybe some propaganda but makes for an interesting view.

This is very worrying. I think this issue needs addressing asap. This is a violent and peaodaphiloc religion which needs to be restrained.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bluespunk]

Bingo.

[Emster23]

Dear Thailand: welcome to 21st century. BTW according to these numbers, was part of what would become Malaysia for over a thousand years. You ignored and/or abused them for over a century. Gee I wonder why many might want to be part of Malaysia? Time to start treating all citizens with a bit of respect, regardless of religion, culture, language..... actually, past time.

[cumgranosalum]

Maybe some propaganda but makes for an interesting view.

This is very worrying. I think this issue needs addressing asap. This is a violent and peaodaphiloc religion which needs to be restrained.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I suspect that description applies to the above poster too......

[h90]

Turkish-Doner-Lamb-Kebab2-iStock.jpg

God Almighty, it's this nonsense again. Basically, halal food is harmless, and kebabs are good. It's not a problem if these kebab shops appear in lots of places. I was pissed out of mind on Friday night, and had a extra-large doner kebab. The only problem being that it cost £7.00, seven pounds, that's a bit over ten US dollars.

It's not harmless. For some people with religious beliefs they cannot consume meat from an animal which was made to suffer at the point of death.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Also some people without religious belief don't want meat that was tortured to death...Me for example.

It is bad enough how food animals are treated but halal makes it even worse. Still Kebab is great food, if only I could get a not halal version.....

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Althought the relevant article is piffle, this is an issue that is very much alive for Phuket.

It is also one facet of the many reasons why I recently chose to move from the Island.

There is another popular thread running talking about how dead Patong is at the moment. That may be true but what has not been discussed is the significant shift in the demographic of the visitors to Phuket. There is a huge influx of chinese. That is a given. But they are zero dollar tourists, who rarely venture out of their packaged group environment to interface with workaday thai folk. If the Chinese stock market continues to tank then these visitors may well dry up, or if they tire of the scams, for example being bused in to a mall to buy latex products that were imported from China and then put in a bag labelled made in Thailand, they will go elsewhere.

But, chinese aside, who are the new source markets for Phuket tourists? What I see on the ground are morrocans, kuwaitees, iranians, and other muslim visitors. A growing trend I have observed is muslim men, with their wifes, walking down Bangla. Why on earth a married muslim would want to walk with his wife on a street filled with prostitutes and bars selling alcohol is beyond me but there you go. As the Chinese dry up, or wise up, to Phuket, the remaining tourist demographic will be Muslim men. Of course they are only staying in Patong for its great mosque. If, in the near future, the bulk of vistors to Phuket are muslim, it would seem safe to assume that the tourist areas will eventually undergo total Islamization. Not a big leap for Kamala, or Bang Tao.

If that is the tourist demographic they are aiming to attract then fair enough, be more Muslim friendly.

However the term islaminisation has darker connotations than a method of attracting tourists.

This article's title suggests a more sinister meaning and that is pure BS (not your post, which frankly was a more interesting read)

No it is not the tourism demographic they WANT to attract. There is endless talk about pursuing the QUALITY tourists. But after witnessing, either first hand, or via social media, the environmental degradation, trash and fetid waterways and beaches, road carnage, scams, and taxi mafia, quality tourists no longer visit Phuket. The island is now scraping the very bottom of the tourist barrel. Just before I left phuket I went to a street fair up the back of Patong that had a great traditional Thai puppet show visiting on tour from another province. While standing in the crowd there I noticed a Thai grand father with his daughter and her loog krung son. The grandson clearly had a middle eastern father, but he was no where to be seen. The daughter, who I am guessing from her tatooes worked in a bar had a black eye and a bruised cheek. The bargirls who thought they were doing it tough with their old, fat, drunk western boyfriends are in for a rude shock moving forward. Mohamed aint gonna pony up for no sick buffalo.

[candide]

Turkish-Doner-Lamb-Kebab2-iStock.jpg

God Almighty, it's this nonsense again. Basically, halal food is harmless, and kebabs are good. It's not a problem if these kebab shops appear in lots of places. I was pissed out of mind on Friday night, and had a extra-large doner kebab. The only problem being that it cost £7.00, seven pounds, that's a bit over ten US dollars.

Be glad you don't know what kind of meat they use for these giro kebabs.....

[NoshowJones]

Dear Thailand: welcome to 21st century. BTW according to these numbers, was part of what would become Malaysia for over a thousand years. You ignored and/or abused them for over a century. Gee I wonder why many might want to be part of Malaysia? Time to start treating all citizens with a bit of respect, regardless of religion, culture, language..... actually, past time.

and the Muslims treat all citizens with respect regardless of religion, culture etc?????

[bheard]

Maybe some propaganda but makes for an interesting view.

That was 2008.

The clock's ticking . . .

[roamer]

Althought the relevant article is piffle, this is an issue that is very much alive for Phuket.

It is also one facet of the many reasons why I recently chose to move from the Island.

There is another popular thread running talking about how dead Patong is at the moment. That may be true but what has not been discussed is the significant shift in the demographic of the visitors to Phuket. There is a huge influx of chinese. That is a given. But they are zero dollar tourists, who rarely venture out of their packaged group environment to interface with workaday thai folk. If the Chinese stock market continues to tank then these visitors may well dry up, or if they tire of the scams, for example being bused in to a mall to buy latex products that were imported from China and then put in a bag labelled made in Thailand, they will go elsewhere.

But, chinese aside, who are the new source markets for Phuket tourists? What I see on the ground are morrocans, kuwaitees, iranians, and other muslim visitors. A growing trend I have observed is muslim men, with their wifes, walking down Bangla. Why on earth a married muslim would want to walk with his wife on a street filled with prostitutes and bars selling alcohol is beyond me but there you go. As the Chinese dry up, or wise up, to Phuket, the remaining tourist demographic will be Muslim men. Of course they are only staying in Patong for its great mosque. If, in the near future, the bulk of vistors to Phuket are muslim, it would seem safe to assume that the tourist areas will eventually undergo total Islamization. Not a big leap for Kamala, or Bang Tao.

I spent some time working in an office in Bond St London near a branch of Victoria's Secret, an erotic lingerie store. A constant stream of limousines from which burka clad females would emerge before exiting with huge amounts of carrier bags. Seeing a London taxi called to take the excess bags was a common occurrence. I'm sure that this was being done not only with hubbies wallet but also his approval.

[Bluespunk]

Maybe some propaganda but makes for an interesting view.

That was 2008.

The clock's ticking . . .

No it's not.

[Linky]

Althought the relevant article is piffle, this is an issue that is very much alive for Phuket.

It is also one facet of the many reasons why I recently chose to move from the Island.

There is another popular thread running talking about how dead Patong is at the moment. That may be true but what has not been discussed is the significant shift in the demographic of the visitors to Phuket. There is a huge influx of chinese. That is a given. But they are zero dollar tourists, who rarely venture out of their packaged group environment to interface with workaday thai folk. If the Chinese stock market continues to tank then these visitors may well dry up, or if they tire of the scams, for example being bused in to a mall to buy latex products that were imported from China and then put in a bag labelled made in Thailand, they will go elsewhere.

But, chinese aside, who are the new source markets for Phuket tourists? What I see on the ground are morrocans, kuwaitees, iranians, and other muslim visitors. A growing trend I have observed is muslim men, with their wifes, walking down Bangla. Why on earth a married muslim would want to walk with his wife on a street filled with prostitutes and bars selling alcohol is beyond me but there you go. As the Chinese dry up, or wise up, to Phuket, the remaining tourist demographic will be Muslim men. Of course they are only staying in Patong for its great mosque. If, in the near future, the bulk of vistors to Phuket are muslim, it would seem safe to assume that the tourist areas will eventually undergo total Islamization. Not a big leap for Kamala, or Bang Tao.

I spent some time working in an office in Bond St London near a branch of Victoria's Secret, an erotic lingerie store. A constant stream of limousines from which burka clad females would emerge before exiting with huge amounts of carrier bags. Seeing a London taxi called to take the excess bags was a common occurrence. I'm sure that this was being done not only with hubbies wallet but also his approval.

Yes strange isnt it, that there are many open minded muslims with the same desires as western folk.

But they cant win, if they are radical muslims they are called all kind of scum, and rightly so. But if they show they are pretty normal in there open mindedness then they are called out on being bad muslims.

I would have thought seeing muslim families in Bangla Road having a grand old time would be a good thing, but obviously not to some who think they shouldnt. How dare they be liberal open minded people.