The Unfamiliarity and the Resistance against Mosques Construction in Northern Areas of Thailand

Abstract

The global contexts have shown news about violation in Muslims areas, Muslim countries or Muslim religious places leading to an academic explanation as Islamophobia which is similar to violation and resistance against mosques construction in some areas in Thailand that is also described as Islamophobia as well; however, that explanation cannot cover areas with no violation and resistance pictures. The study of community and resistance against mosques construction in the Northern parts of Thailand aims to answer the question, i.e. why the community reacts differently to mosques construction? The researcher compared the areas with resistance against mosques construction and the areas without resistance against mosques construction in the Northern parts of Thailand to study the context of interaction and mechanism in the areas where mosques were built after the incident of September 11, 2011 covering 4 areas that is Wieng Pa Pao District of Chiang Rai Province; Muang District of Nan Province; Mae Sai District of Chiang Rai Province and Mae La Noi District of Mae Hong Son Province. It was found that the important factor for people in the community who join the resistance against mosques construction in the area was not “Islamophobia” because what was found in the areas with resistance against mosques construction and the areas without resistance against mosques construction in the Northern parts of Thailand was the unfamiliarity of seeing Muslims in the community. There were some evidences of showing unfamiliarity of Muslims in the area with resistance against mosques construction, for example, there was no evidence of Muslim culture or Muslims in those areas and that led to fear and worry about the future and changes of people in the community. On the other hand, the areas without resistance against mosques construction showed obvious familiarity of Muslims establishment in the area not only through acknowledgement of their existence but also through
community help like volunteers in festivals, trades and having areas for cultural exchange which would
support co-existence of different