Thai authorities refused to recognize a Malay dialect largely spoken in the Muslim-majority far south as an official language, Xinhua reported.
"We cannot accept that (proposal) as we are Thai. The country is Thai and the language is Thai," said Prem Tinsulanonda, the chief adviser to Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
"We have to be proud of being Thai and having the Thai language and the sole national language," he told reporters in the southern province of Pattani after meeting top religious leaders and Muslim youths.
Recognizing the Malay dialect as an official language was recommended by the National Reconciliation Commission, formed last year and led by former premier Anand Panyarachun, which warned in its last report that violence could surge in southern Muslim provinces if the government doesn’t change its tough policy against local Muslims.
The committee said that recognizing Malay as an official language could help bring peace and stability in the region.
The panel also urged the Thai government, which sent hundreds of troops to the Muslim-majority far south, to deploy an “unarmed unit” to contain the situation peacefully.
Many Muslims accuse the mainly Buddhist Thai authorities of a litany of abuses in the southern region where 80 percent of the population are Muslim, ethnic Malay and non-Thai speaking.
Thai Muslims also complain that the government discriminates against them and ignores their language and culture.
Several international rights group slammed Thai authorities for using force against Muslims in the south, where more than 1,300 people, mainly Muslim civilians, died since early 2005.
Thailand's three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat were all an independent Muslim sultanate before being annexed a century ago.
AlJazeera
"We cannot accept that (proposal) as we are Thai. The country is Thai and the language is Thai," said Prem Tinsulanonda, the chief adviser to Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
"We have to be proud of being Thai and having the Thai language and the sole national language," he told reporters in the southern province of Pattani after meeting top religious leaders and Muslim youths.
Recognizing the Malay dialect as an official language was recommended by the National Reconciliation Commission, formed last year and led by former premier Anand Panyarachun, which warned in its last report that violence could surge in southern Muslim provinces if the government doesn’t change its tough policy against local Muslims.
The committee said that recognizing Malay as an official language could help bring peace and stability in the region.
The panel also urged the Thai government, which sent hundreds of troops to the Muslim-majority far south, to deploy an “unarmed unit” to contain the situation peacefully.
Many Muslims accuse the mainly Buddhist Thai authorities of a litany of abuses in the southern region where 80 percent of the population are Muslim, ethnic Malay and non-Thai speaking.
Thai Muslims also complain that the government discriminates against them and ignores their language and culture.
Several international rights group slammed Thai authorities for using force against Muslims in the south, where more than 1,300 people, mainly Muslim civilians, died since early 2005.
Thailand's three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat were all an independent Muslim sultanate before being annexed a century ago.
AlJazeera
So clearly haram 
.