The quality of mercy

If the four queens of Pattani were alive today, they would probably agree with the 50 women who recently made their voices heard in the new book "Rain Amidst Fire".

The four queens brought peace and prosperity to Pattani during their reigns, which lasted for longer than a century. In the 17th century, during which Raja Ijau, Raja Biru, Raja Ungu and Raja Kuning succeeded each other on the throne, the port city was known as a cosmopolitan state where visitors from all walks of life were welcome. The queens believed in peace not war, and so the locals lived together in tranquillity.

Today, the 50 women, who live and work in the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla, are trying to bring peace to the troubled South.

"Small mercies can bring about good relationships amid conflict and hatred," says Assoc Prof Chidchanok Rahimmula. Chidchanok, along with other Buddhist and Muslim women, is following the queens' policy to make peace not war in the southern region.

While the state and the insurgency groups resort to violent acts against each other, these 50 women calmly work to encourage people in the area to focus on the small rays of hope. The ladies have witnessed small but beautiful things that both the state and their male counterparts have failed to see.

Chidchanok, who teaches political science at the Prince of Songkhla University-Pattani Campus, admits that that she first learned about Pattani from the novel "Pulakong", the story of a good policeman, a nurse and a Muslim bandit. Pulakong is the name of a sub-district in Pattani's Yaring district.

She learned more about the province after meeting her future husband, Muslim scholar Phirayot Rahimmula, while conducting research in Belgium. Phirayot was there doing his dissertation on Islamic laws in Pattani.

"He told me the history of Pattani but with a great sense of radical nationalism," she says. But his fervour didn't stop the daughter of a military officer falling in love with the Muslim scholar and she later converted to Islam and left her Bangkok home to live with him in Pattani.

Like other visitors to the former realm of Pattani's queens, Chidchanok felt very foreign when she first arrived in the province, where most people speak the Maleyu language. But as a new member of a Muslim community, she says she never felt pressured by the differences.

"People shouldn't have to dilute their identities in order to live together," she says.

Several years on and in the midst of today's violence, Chidchanok still sees a bright side in the differences between the local people and strangers to the area. Outside the classroom, she works as a bridge between the state's military officers and the Muslim people.

At the recent book launch in Bangkok, Chidchanok spoke about some Muslim boys forced to leave school because their families are poor. The scholars asked if the army could turn some money marked for employment into an educational fund for the boys.

The boys were later sent back to their classrooms without any conditions attached.

"Small mercies are everywhere," she says.

A ray of hope also casts light over a Muslim community where Chantima Suk-oam grew up and still lives. Chantima is writing the history of Baan Bangtawa, the small fishing village in Pattani where she was born and where her Buddhist family has lived alongside their Muslim neighbours for generations.

While many people see the history of southern Thailand as a part of the current problem, Chantima says in her home village, friends will not become enemies. Her mission is to trace the history of Baan Bangtawa through the stories of the older folk who live there.

Twenty years ago, Chantima says she and children of Muslim families in the village all attended Wat Satit-cholatarn school and that the Buddhist and Muslim pupils enjoyed learning from each other's cultures.

She recalls Muslim villagers helping to organise the annual temple fair held to celebrate a Buddhist custom known as Chak Phra.

With the flames of hatred lighting up the deep South over the past few years, Chantima is often asked why she still lives in this Muslim village.

"I simply reply that it's my home and that we - Muslims and Buddhists - still live as sisters and brothers. I don't want to leave this kind of relationship behind," she says.

Chantima believes that history should not cause distress but rather teach us all how we can live together.

"Rain Amidst Fire: Force of Life, Force of Humanity-Voices of 50 women of the deep South" ("Fon Klang Fai: Palang Cheewit, Palang Jai- Hasib Siang Puying Chaidaen Tai") is published by Social Agenda Working group and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). To obtain a free copy, call (02) 218 7392.