MON STUDIES CENTRE A GOAL FOR ACADEMICS

Academics to establish global hub

By Onnucha Hutasingh

(Cited from Bangkok Post: October 14, 2003)

Academics want Thailand to be a global hub for Mon studies as the language and culture are well-preserved here but at the edge of extinction elsewhere.

A bid to raise funds for building a Mon study centre and a Mon museum at Wat Muang in Ratchaburi's Ban Pong district was made during last week's seminar and lectures on Mon studies in Thailand.

Highly respected historian Nidhi Eoseewong said a Mon study centre should be set up in Thailand since this country was probably the world's largest source of evidence on Mon culture based on the fact that there had been at least nine generations of Mon migrations to the lower Chao Phraya river basin from the Ayutthaya period to the Rattanakosin period.

According to Mr Nidhi, ethnic Mons, whose presence can be traced back more than 2,000 years in Southeast Asia, came close to losing their identity about two centuries ago because of a brutal suppression drive by a Burmese king.

There are only about four million Mon people left worldwide and most cannot read or write the Mon language. Moreover, very few academics have been allowed to access Mon archaeological sources and historical evidence in Burma.

However, ancient documents on Mon heritage can be found in some 200 Mon temples in Thailand's Central Region. Their culture and dialect have been conserved by residents of Mon communities along the Mae Klong river in Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Samut Songkhram and in the North.

Sunate Chutintranont, a Chulalongkorn University expert on Burmese affairs, said he feared Burma would not be happy about the creation of the Mon study centre in Thailand and turn against the Mon and their culture as in the past.