3.3 Employment
Knowledge of the Thai language is a requirement for employment in most
of the state’s institutions.29 30 In Viola v Canada, it was held that a
language requirement for a public employment opportunity denies a nonspeaker
of – or obviously someone with a low level of fluency in – that
language an employment opportunity. An individual who has no
knowledge of the state sanctioned language will be disadvantaged or
excluded. Hence, employment in the Thai public sector is unachievable for
most Malays who have little or no knowledge of the Thai language.
In the south of the country, for example, most of the people employed in
government councils or assemblies are either Thai-Buddhists or SinoThais,
and one major factor in this state of affairs is the obstacle caused by
the lack of required fluency of most Malays in the Thai language and low
levels of education.31 Malays who have graduated from Islamic institutions
overseas also have difficulty in finding employment due to the Thai
Ministry of Education’s refusal to recognise foreign Islamic universities.32
Statistics show that in the year 2000, Malays who worked in public sectors
comprised only 2.4 percent of all working Malays in the Southern
provinces, compared with 19.2 percent of all working Thai-Buddhists.
Jobs in the public sector include many prestigious and middle-class
employment categories such as teachers, doctors, nurses and civil servants.
The under-employment of Malays in these public sectors has resulted in
one-third of them living below the poverty line.33 Thai-Buddhists and
Sino-Thais dominate the economic structure of the Southern provinces
through their almost complete monopoly of civl service employment
positions, especially in upper- and middle-levels and their ownership of tin
mines and rubber plantations, while the Malays end up mainly as small
farmers and fishermen.34
As shown above, the exclusive use of Thai as medium of instruction in
public schools has had the direct impact of a very a high drop-out rate