"A bilingual curriculum and a Thai-Pattani Malayu-Malay dictionary can be useful tools. Like religion, language is important," says Professor Suwilai Premsrirat, a linguist who wants to help end deep-South violence.

The principle is simple. If language barriers divide people, shared languages should bring them closer and foster understanding.

"Local people have welcomed our idea. It shows we care about their lives and about their language. It makes them realise we honour their language, that we are not intent on destroying it."

Suwilai heads the resource centre for revitalisation and maintenance of endangered languages and culture at Mahidol University.

The centre, along with the Thailand Research Fund, Prince of Songkhla University Pattani campus and local researchers, will next year introduce a bilingual Thai-Pattani Malayu school curriculum in Songkhla, Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.

The bilingual course will be available to first-level kindergarten students in year one and then to level-two students and so on.

The nine-year project will assess the performance of bilingual-curriculum students when they complete Grade 6. Evaluations will be conducted on a regular basis.

Thais in the southernmost provinces are predominantly Muslims who speak Pattani Malayu, a dialect of Malay.

The Education Ministry has long used Thai as the mandatory language of instruction, even in areas where it is not widely spoken.

The language barrier has posed an obstacle to learning ability and to relations between the state and locals.

"In the three southernmost provinces more than half of state-school teachers can't speak Pattani Malayu. As a result, local children suffer in class," Suwilai said.

According to southern researcher Jeh-husen Jeh-ubong, Pattani Malayu-speaking students generally showed poorer academic performance than Thai-speaking students, simply because they did not understand Thai well enough.

"A bilingual curriculum would be good here," he said.

Suwilai recommends schools in the southernmost provinces provide instruction in Pattani Malayu during the three years of kindergarten before gradually increasing Thai content over six years of primary education.

The ministry agreed to assist in preparing the curriculum and selecting schools where it will be introduced.

Jeh-husen considers the Thai-Pattani Malayu-Malay dictionary a good idea. It will help preserve the local dialect while helping Thai-speaking government officials communicate better with locals.

"Pattani Malayu is part of the identity of people in the deep South. The language and religion are closely intertwined," Jeh-husen said.

Work on the Thai-Pattani Malayu-Malay dictionary is nearly complete. The draft contains about 5,000 words and is to be put before public hearings.

Another southern researcher, Wae-yusoh Sama-alee, said the dictionary would include more words in the future.

"Together with the bilingual course, local Muslim students will be happy in class," Suwilai said.

She is confident language-oriented projects will reduce violence.

According to the ministry, there were 71,650 children in state kindergartens and 12,250 in private kindergartens in the three provinces. At the primary level, 184,890 children are in state school while 22,200 are in private education.

At lower-secondary level there are 22,450 state students and 51,980 private. There are 7,740 upper-secondary pupils and 37,780 private.

"Muslim youth clearly prefers private school as it grows older. One clear point is that private schools have more teaching hours devoted to Islam," Jeh-husen said.

He added that the large number of children in private schools reflected government failure to respond to local needs.

Jeh-husen said the government should teach Pattani Malayu to government officials in the deep South.

"When everyone speaks the same language a reconciliatory atmosphere will develop. The ties between local people and government officials will improve," Jeh-husen said.

Wae-yusoh said it was government policy to provide Pattani Malayu classes for officials.

Chularat Saengpassa

The Nation