Thread: Thai junta chief expresses concern over hijab

Thai junta chief expresses concern over hijab

21 April 2015

Thailand’s junta chief-cum-prime minister has expressed concerns about the wearing of the hijab in the insurgency-plagued Muslim south, saying a respect for culture and religion must be complemented with security considerations, according to local media Tuesday.

“We want to make of the south of Thailand a cultural center for Islam and let the [Muslim] people there express openly their identity,” General Prayuth Chan-ocha said Monday.

“But at the same time, there were instances where men disguised themselves as women, using the ‘hijab’ which caused security problems and victims,” he added. “So you have to understand.”

Chan-ocha’s comments came in response to a recent decision by a Bangkok government school to ban the wearing of headscarves for 17 Muslim students.

Chan-ocha said he had asked the Ministry of Education to find a solution to the case -- without specifying whether or not he agreed with the ban.

The school director has justified the ban by referring to an education ministry regulation that allegedly prohibits headscarves in schools located within the compounds of Buddhist temples -- as is common among Thai government schools.

However, the director-general of the ministry’s Department of Religion, Sod Daengkiat, told The Nation that there is no such regulation.

Meanwhile, the deputy-director of the department of religious studies at Bangkok-based Chulalongkorn University explained to the Matichon news website Monday that “protecting their bodies from the view of others” is a “fundamental requirement of Islam” for Muslim women.

Sarawut Ari added that the government should seek advice from religious experts and the Chularajamontri, the country’s King-appointed Islamic leader, concerning garments that leave only the wearer’s eyes visible.

The three southernmost Thai provinces of Yala, Pattani and Nathatiwat -- where 80 percent of the population is Muslim and 20 percent Buddhist -- have been plagued by a separatist insurgency since the 1960s.

The area was an independent Islamic sultanate with great religious influence in the Southeast Asian Muslim world until its incorporation into Siam after a 1909 Anglo-Siamese agreement.

The government tried to impose Thai culture on the Malay Muslims, who sought political and cultural autonomy.

In the 1960s, when the Thai military regime tried to wrest control of Islamic schools, several Muslim groups launched a guerrilla war against the state.

The insurgency petered out towards the end of the 1980s but was renewed in January 2004 when a wave of attacks against the military, police and Buddhist monks rocked the region.

Since then, violence has continued unabated, leaving more than 6,000 dead and around 11,000 injured.


Thai junta chief expresses concern over hijab, 21 April 2015

...there were instances where men disguised themselves as women...

Don't just wait until they come out of the shower....

10 Ways to Spot a Ladyboy - Bangkok.com Magazine

Think he probably prefers G-Strings.
Bar fine tow lie kap?

I see the problem is men wearing the thing. the solution seems ridiculously simple, let those who wish to wear the hijab be naked from the neck down so there could be no confusion about their gender.

Originally Posted by Neverna

“We want to make of the south of Thailand a cultural center for Islam and let the [Muslim] people there express openly their identity,” General Prayuth Chan-ocha said Monday.

“But at the same time, there were instances where men disguised themselves as women, using the ‘hijab’ which caused security problems and victims,” he added. “So you have to understand.”

Chan-ocha’s comments came in response to a recent decision by a Bangkok government school to ban the wearing of headscarves for 17 Muslim students.

What has this got to do with a school in Bangkok?

Switch on your brain, Mr.P. ...

Thai School Director Transferred for Banning Hijab

BANGKOK — The director of a public school in southern Thailand has been transferred from her post after barring Muslim students from wearing hijabs in school, a government official said today.

The director of Baan Nai Yong School, Wisutsri Yungpongsapat, had claimed that the traditional Islamic head coverings violated state regulations for student uniforms.

Yet according to sec-gen of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC), state regulations allow Muslim students to wear hijabs in public schools, as long as the cloth is a plain color, not longer than 120 cm in length, and pinned together under the chin of the wearer.

"I believe that director of the school was new in her post, so she did not have understanding about identity, so she imposed the ban, and caused protests in the area," the OBEC sec-gen, Kamol Rodklai, told reporters yesterday.

Baan Nai Yong School is located in Phang Nga province in southern Thailand, where Muslims make up a sizable portion of the population in contrast to the rest of the Buddhist-dominated country.

Kamol said the school director has been transferred and the ban, which drew protests from local Muslim residents and activists, has been repealed.

On 20 April, junta chairman and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said public schools in the south should not impose rules that encroach on the identity of local Muslims, though he expressed concern that wearing a niqab, a veil that covers most or all of the face, may affect public security.

"Veiling that hides the face and the eyes may sometimes have an impact on security. You have to understand that," said Gen. Prayuth, who came to power in the May 2014 military coup. "In the past, there were incidents of perpetrators harming security officers by disguising themselves as women wearing face veils. Sometimes, men covered their faces like that. You have to sympathize with the security officers."

Thai School Director Transferred for Banning Hijab

Jesus.... If there ever was a country where men dress like women then it's Thailand.