Abstract
The long-standing Patani Muslim separatist resistance of Southern Thailand is not one that is well known, and its contemporaneous spill over onto the Internet even less so. The more radical Patani online propaganda is in fact symptomatic of the relocation of the struggle within the sphere of influence of global jihadism, distancing itself from the ethno-nationalism characteristic of a previous generation of fighters. New media propaganda, in particular Jihad 2.0, has opened a new sphere of influence to the Patani neojihadist movement, allowing the militants to expand their propaganda campaign to a wider audience, while reaching out to a younger Melayu public. While Jihad 2.0 has presented the resistance movement with new ways to diffuse its message, in a more innovative and appealing manner, it also has enabled it to engage with its audiences more interactively. Because the message is no longer linear, anyone can contribute to the dialectics of the struggle, which in fine results in the alteration and reshaping of its ideological discourse in unprecedented directions. Arguably the ‘glocalisation’ of Islamophobia within Thai culture has resulted in the alteration of the Thai cultural stereotype of the Muslim khaek ‘Other’, transforming the khaek into an evil violent Muslim, both in real and virtual worlds. This further leads to discriminatory attitudes and behaviours towards Muslims, which causes the hardening of the views of the online Patani community of support towards the Thais and possibly its radicalisation.
This chapter is a revised and edited update of a paper previously published by Virginie Andre in 2014 as The Janus face of new media propaganda: The case of Patani neojihadist YouTube warfare and its Islamophobic effect on cyber-actors, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 25(3): 335–356. DOI:10.1080/09596410.2014.900948. © University of Birmingham, reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd, www.tandfonline.com on behalf of University of Birmingham.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Neojihadism has been defined as ‘a religious, political, paramilitary and terrorist global movement, a subculture, a counterculture and an ideology that seeks to establish states governed by laws according to the dictates of selectively literal interpretations of the Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, through enacting violence’ (Lentini 2008a, 181).
- 2.
While the older generation of Muslim secessionists in Southern Thailand were reluctant to use international concepts (such as umma) to enhance their power vis-à-vis the Thai state, this parochialism is now clearly receding (Andre 2008, 176).
- 3.
This chapter stems from the author’s doctoral research on the transformation of the Patani insurgency from an ethno-nationalist to a neojihadist movement and its process of glocalisation. Special attention is focused here on the Islamophobic effects the Internet and the use of new media, in particular YouTube, by the militants and their supporters in diffusing their online propaganda, has on Thai cyber actors and how the use of new media alters the movement’s ideological resistance discourse and radicalisation processes. This chapter follows a first study on the use of YouTube by the Patani militancy , which the author presented during the New Media and Terrorism Conference organised by the Dublin City University in 2010. The author wishes to thank Associate Professor Peter Lentini, Professor Greg Barton, Ekkarin Tuansiri, Professor Tikky Wattanapenpaiboon, and Bruce McFarlane for their helpful exchange of views and suggestions during the preparation of this chapter and also Pete Dewell Alessandro Marota, Professor Phrae Sirisakdamkoeng, Janjira Sombutpoonsiri and Muhammad Noor Halil Chalil for their collegial support. Finally, the author would also like to thank the European University Institute and the Global Terrorism Research Centre of Monash University for making the research and writing of this chapter possible.
- 4.
The infamous Tak Bai massacres refer to an incident that occurred in November 2004 in Tak Bai in which 85 Muslim demonstrators died of suffocation during their transfer to prison facilities due to the carelessness of Thai security forces.
- 5.
The sarong is a lower garment worn by the Malay people, both men and women. Men usually wear the dress during Friday prayers and casually at home. The sarong also symbolises Malay culture in southern Thailand and was forbidden from public spaces in 1939 following the Thai Ratthaniyom (Thai Customs Decree) as it was considered un-Thai. Noticeably, the use of the Malay language and Malay names was also not permitted.
- 6.
Interview with Thai Muslim female graduate student, Bangkok, March 2011.
- 7.
British nasheed singer Sami Yusuf is not only popular in the United Kingdom but also in other places of the world such as Southern Thailand where his CDs are available in local markets and music shops. Significantly, Yusuf’s music has appealed to a younger generation of Muslims and Melayu youth are no exception. Therefore, arguably the attraction of a younger generation to Yusuf’s music would explain the presence and usage of his nasheeds as soundtrack to some of the various Patani neojihadist YouTube videos, posted by a younger generation of militants and supporters.
- 8.
Only a few of these stereotypes will be reported, as some of them are too offensive to be mentioned, and the language used is equally abusive and disturbing.
- 9.
This Thai YouTuber is particularly virulent in his verbal attacks. On his YouTube channel, the image of an injured man completely disfigured serves as background to the web page, which supposedly symbolises the might of Siamese power. xPitBullATTACKx clearly indicates in his profile that Siamese power is like the power of a pit-bull. The user glorifies violence as a means of assertion of Thai rule against minorities, such as the Muslims, the Khmers and Laotians. A similar profile can be found on 14Siampower88’s channel, which displays symbols of extremist fascism through a photo showing dictator and former Thai Prime Minister General Phibun Songkram meeting Hitler. The image association between Siamese nationalism and Nazi fascism aims in this case to avow the supremacy of the Thai race and nationalism over other minority groups. Finally, despite an Islamophobic discourse not as well articulated as in the West, Thai YouTuber MuslimSissy has adopted some of the more Islamophobic symbolism with the background graphic of the channel which displays a picture of a pig that is associated with one of most controversial Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, and the broadcasting of extremely offensive videos defaming Islam and its followers.
- 10.
When studying the various YouTuber’s channels and their interaction for each video, some users commented in response to the Islamophobic attacks on more than one occasion and more than one of the three selected videos. One user in particular is highly active in countering verbal abuses with equally violent retorts. His YouTube channel reveals that he is a strong supporter and possibly a Patani militant. His user icon shows an image of the wording Patani merdeka (Patani independent) with a tiled background showing a mujahedeen planting on a hill the al raya flag, symbolising the Patani jihad.
References
Ahmad, I., Siddique, S., & Hussain, Y. (comps.). (1985). Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Andre, V. (2008). Southern Thailand: A cosmic war? In S. Khatab, M. Bakashmar, & E. Ogru (Eds.), Radicalisation crossing borders: New directions in Islamist and jihadist political, intellectual and theological thought and practice, refereed proceedings from the international conference, 26–27 November 2008, Parliament House, Melbourne Victoria. Caulfield: Global Terrorism Research Centre, Monash University.
Andre, V. (2010). Globalization: A new driving force in Southern Thailand. In D. Wright-Neville & A. Halafoff (Eds.), Terrorism and social exclusion: Misplaced risk—common security. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Andre, V. (2011). ‘Neojihadism’ and YouTube: Patani militant propaganda dissemination and radicalization. In M. Conway & L. McInerney (Eds.), New media and terrorism. Dublin: Dublin City University.
Beck, U. (2000). What is globalization? (P. Camiller, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity Press. German edition: Beck, U. (1997). Was ist Globalisierung? Germany: Suhrkamp Verlag.
Bunt, G. R. (2003). Islam in the digital age: E-jihad, online fatwas, and cyber Islamic environments. London: Pluto Press.
Diller, A. V. N. (1988). Islam and southern Thai ethnic reference. South East Asian Review, XIII, 153–165.
Eickelman, D. F., & Anderson, J. W. (2003). New media in the Muslim world: The emerging public sphere (Indiana Series in Middle East Studies, 2nd ed.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Fadzillah, I. (2004). Going beyond ‘the West’ and ‘the rest’: Conducting non-Western, non-native ethnography in northern Thailand. In L. Hume & J. Mulcock (Eds.), Anthropologists in the field: Cases in participant observation (pp. 32–45). New York: Columbia University Press.
Grabowsky, V. (1995). Regions and national integration in Thailand 1892–1992. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Holmes, H., Tangtongtavy, S., & Tomizawa, R. (1997). Working with the Thais: A guide to managing in Thailand. Bangkok: White Lotus.
Ilardi, G. (2009, September). Home-grown terrorism and radicalization activities: More than meets the eye. Australian Police Journal, 7, 110–19.
Japakiya, I. L. (2008). Islam: The religion of peace. Malaysia: Fajar Ulung.
Lentini, P. (2008a). Antipodal terrorists? Accounting for differences in Australian and global neojihadists. In R. Devetak & C. W. Hughes (Eds.), The globalization and political violence: Globalization’s shadow (Warwick Studies in Globalisation). London: Routledge.
Lentini, P. (2008b). The transference of neojihadism: Towards a process theory of transnational radicalisation. In S. Khatab, M. Bakashmar, & E. Ogru (Eds.), Radicalisation crossing borders: New directions in Islamist and jihadist political, intellectual and theological thought and practice, refereed proceedings from the international conference, 26–27 November 2008, Parliament House, Melbourne Victoria. Caulfield: Global Terrorism Research Centre, Monash University.
Mandaville, P. (2009). Hip-hop, nasheeds, and ‘cool’ sheikhs: Popular culture and Muslim youth in the United Kingdom. In C. Timmerman, J. Leman, H. Roos, & B. Segaert (Eds.), In-between spaces: Christian and Muslim minorities in transition in Europe and the Middle East (Gods, Humans and Religions 18, pp. 149–168). Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang.
Marddent, A. (2008). Buddhist perceptions of Muslims in the Thai South. Silapasat Samnuk, 7, 47–63.
Mohideen, H., & Mohideen, S. (2008). The language of Islamophobia in Internet articles. Intellectual Discourse, 16(1), 73–87.
Natanaree, P. (2009). Thai society, Islamophobia, and reversed discrimination. Paper presented at The world civic forum 2009, 5–8 May, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Nishii, R. (2000). Emergence and transformation of peripheral ethnicity: Sam Sam on the Thai-Malaysian border. In A. Turton (Ed.), Civility and savagery: Social identity in Tai states (pp. 180–200). Richmond: Curzon Press.
Noorani, A. G. (2002). Islam & jihad: Prejudice versus reality. London: Zed Books.
Perret, D., Srisuchat, A., & Thanasuk, S. (2004). Études sur l’histoire du sultanat de Patani (Etudes Thématiques 14). Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient.
Punyaratabandhu-Bhakdi, S., & Vichit-Vadakdan, J. (1987). Thailand. In J. A. Sigler (Ed.), International handbook on race and race relations (pp. 301–320). New York: Greenwood Press.
Roy, O. (2004). Globalised Islam: The search for a new umma. London: C. Hurst & Co.
Sageman, M. (2008). Leaderless jihad: Terror networks in the twenty-first century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Sirisakdamkoeng, P. (2009). Perspectives of Thai citizens in virtual communities on the violence in the southernmost provinces. In D. S. Watch (Ed.), Five years of southern fire: War of knowledge and confusion… and what else? Pattani: Deep South Watch.
Strauss, W., & Howe, N. (1991). Generations: The history of America’s future, 1584 to 2069. New York: Morrow.
Syukri, I. (1985). History of the Malay kingdom of Patani (C. Bailey & J. N. Miksic, Trans., Monographs in International Studies Southeast Asia Series 68). Athens: Center for International Studies, Ohio University.
Teeuw, A., & Wyatt, D. K. (1970). Hikayat Patani: The story of Patani. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
Winograd, M., & Hais, M. D. (2008). Millennial makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the future of American politics. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Yaena, S. (2005). Media portrayal of Muslim women in the conflict situation of southern Thailand. Paper presented at Women’s world 2005: 9th international interdisciplinary congress on women, June 19–24. Seoul, Korea.
Yaena, S. (2008). Representation, ideology and discourse of news coverage on the violent crisis in southern Thailand. Paper presented at Women’s world: 10th international interdisciplinary congress on women, July 3–9. Madrid, Spain.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Andre, V. (2016). Thai Cyber-Actors: Evidence of an Islamophobic Effect. In: Pratt, D., Woodlock, R. (eds) Fear of Muslims?. Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29698-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29698-2_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29696-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29698-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)