FCI academic explores lesser-known Kelantan Siamese community, awed by its zeal for cultural maintenance

‘Are you from Southern Thailand? Are you in Malaysia for a vacation or work? How long is your stay in Malaysia?’ Those are among the questions that the Siamese in Kelantan often find themselves greeted with when they travel out of their home state.

Equipped with a good command of Kelantanese Malay, the Siamese community, also known as Orang Siam, is a minority group in Kelantan and one of the lesser-known communities in Malaysia. If its members did not speak their mother tongue, an outsider probably will not be able to tell them apart from the local Malays.

Being Malaysian through and through, the Siamese of Kelantan, as with those of three other Malaysian states of Kedah, Perlis, and Terengganu, have their roots in the Kingdom of Siam (present-day Thailand) as the four states used to be tributaries of Siam.

Nevertheless, the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 which saw the modern Malaysia-Thailand border being demarcated, effectively separated the Siamese in the four states from their Kingdom of Siam counterparts after the Siamese government agreed to transfer the four states to the British.

The four states now form part of Malaysia.

UTAR Faculty of Creative Industries (FCI) academic Kenneth Lee Tze Wui has embarked on a mission to delve into this community that has received little attention thus far. Lee is determined to understand how the Siamese in Kelantan maintains their ethnic identity while assimilating into the nation’s fabric.

Lee’s passion for discovery has led him to make a bold move by taking a sabbatical leave and moving to Tumpat, Kelantan, where many Siamese reside, in pursuit of several months of ethnographic fieldwork. “I was quite apprehensive when I first arrived here,” Lee described of his experience being in Tumpat on the first day of his fieldwork. “I was unfamiliar with this place and hardly knew anyone here. Unfortunately, the few initial contacts I had could not be reached.”

Lee had to build his contacts afresh. “I began stationing myself in a key Siamese village in Tumpat called ‘Kampung Terbok,’” Lee explained. “I would take the initiative to strike up conversations with random villagers here, trying to build rapport with them. Eventually, my contacts snowballed from there.”

It is all thanks to the generous and accommodating villagers that Lee is now able to fully submerge himself in the community, having established valuable friendships with several community leaders and a number of locals.

He is also a regular at some food stalls in the said village. “There are five or six eateries that I usually frequent here, and now the operators already know me,” Lee enthused.

With Theravada Buddhist temples playing a central role in the community life of the Siamese, Lee also spends a significant part of his time understanding the kinds of activities that take place at Wat Phikulthong Vararam, a prominent temple in Kampung Terbok, and its Thai Language and Culture School.

FCI academic Kenneth Lee (right) familiarising himself with the operations of Wat Phikulthong Vararam and its temple school

During Buddhist holy days such as Wesak Day or Makha Bucha, the villagers would throng Wat Phikulthong to make offerings to the Buddha and the Sangha (the community of monks), as well as participate in chanting sessions led by the monks.

On weekends, the usually quiet Wat Phikulthong would come alive, with Siamese parents sending their children to attend Thai classes at the temple school located within the compound of Wat Phikulthong.

The Siamese community in Tumpat, Kelantan, participating in temple activities during the Makha Bucha Day.

Young Siamese attending a Dhamma lesson at Wat Phikulthong, Tumpat, Kelantan.

Interestingly, some 15 to 20 students of higher learning institutions who hail from the Siamese villages nearby would find themselves travelling back to Tumpat to give back to the community by passionately serving as volunteer teachers at the temple school.

Lee has observed that under the supervision of the temple abbot and school principals, these volunteers are instrumental in teaching the Siamese children how to read and write Thai, as well as reinforcing the Thai culture.

“The Siamese here may speak Thai in their day-to-day conversations with friends and family, but many of them cannot read or write the Thai script,” explained Ong Shin Row, the vice principal of Wat Phikulthong’s temple school. “We’re trying to help the younger ones to be literate in Thai,” he added.

Ong, who is of Chinese-Siamese parentage, said that besides the language component, Thai culture and Dhamma (teachings or principles of Buddhism) are also included in the lessons.

“The Thai language has strong cultural and historical ties to Buddhism and the Thai culture,” explained Ong. “Therefore, we don’t just teach the Thai language as a standalone subject,” he further added.

Kenneth Lee is poised to share the research findings after the study has been concluded. Some of the findings will be made available on Lee’s blog.

This article was written by FCI lecturer Kenneth Lee Tze Wui from the Department of Mass Communication.