สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

72 The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume III - 2011 72 Redefining çThainessé: Embracing Diversity, Preserving Unity to maintain his Melayu identity at a local level. So, even though the promotion of the concept of çThainessé has been very successful as far as its primary purpose of nation building is concerned, it has greatly contributed to the loss of language diversity among the 15 most endangered languages of Thailand and thereby focused attention on identity issues and cultural conflict among the large language groups in border regions such as the Patani Malay in Southern Thailand. With strife come solutions and there are now concerted efforts by grassroots communities to reverse this situation. With the technical support of academics, progress is being made in revitalizing and maintaining their language and cultural identity in various ways, including through education. Important methods used to this end include 1) the teaching of the ethnic language as a main subject such as those doing it among the Chong, Nyah Kur, Thavung and smaller, seriously endangered languages facing the same problem and 2) the provision of mother tongue-based bilingual education to larger language groups, including Patani Malay, Mon, and Northern Khmer. To be able to cope with the complexity of a changing society, the notion of what is good for the nation and its citizens, and the required virtues for leadership, should be broadened. A multilingual/multicultural society should be envisaged and promoted to accommodate this undervalued cultural diversity. The notion of çThainessé needs to be redefined to accommodate and maintain the language and cultural diversity of Thailand to offer ethnolinguistic groups their own space within Thai political society on an equal basis so that they may be empowered to live a dignified life with security, justice and opportunity. Central to this is access to quality education and employment, to reinvigorate their cultural and linguistic identity. VI. Reconsideration of National Language Policy Despite an attempt to guarantee the freedom of expression and non- discrimination on the basis of fundamental human rights, and an implicit recognition of the intimate connection between language and forms of cultural expression, the current national language policy is radically out of step with the realities of multilingualism. A national language policy that promotes a multicultural society and supports the use of ethnic languages in public life, education and local mass media is a must in order to meet the demands and needs of the various marginalized minority groups in Thailand. Such a policy will open up opportunities to positively exploit the variety of accumulated wealth and wisdom embodied within such 54-75_mac9 5/3/12, 10:43 PM 72