Roles and Functions of the Patani Muslim Religious Committee Council in Propagating and Preserving Islam as a Religion under Thai Constitution

Abstract

This paper examines the roles and the functions that the Islamic committee members play at the Muslim Religious Committee Council in the Patani province in propagating and preserving Islam as a religion under the Thai Constitution. Other councils for example, Narathiwat Muslim Religious Committee Council (NMRCC), Yala Muslim Religious Committee Council (YMRCC) and Satul Muslim Religious Committee Council (SMRCC) also embarks upon their own roles besides solving the matrimonial disputes among the Muslims in the deep south. This is due to the fact that the sole purpose of the establishment of the Muslim Religious Committee Councils is to propagate the Islamic teachings and monitor the affair of Muslims in those four provinces. Unfortunately, in the recent year, there are some allegations and misunderstandings as to the roles played by the committee. Although there have been attempts to clarify such misconception, no attempt has been made to provide sufficient information and concrete solutions to the above problems. To a large extent those roles and functions are being carried out by the committee since the beginning of the establishment of the councils. Hence, this paper intends to investigate the roles and the functions of the committee in the Patani Muslim Religious Committee Council by exploring the current tasks and responsibilities of the Islamic committee members in the sphere of propagating and preserving the Islamic teachings as well as conducting the dispute resolution mechanism. Finally, the author will provide some possible solutions and suggestions to the current problems faced by PMRCC.