THE MON IN THAILAND

  

 

Dubbed by some "the Palestinians of Asia", the Mon persons – numbering among two and four million in Burma and an estimated fifty thousand to two hundred thousand in Thailand (chiefly within the western provinces of Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi, while in the Gulf province of Samut Sakhon As well as in Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani, just north of Bangkok) – have endured generations of persecution, displacement and forced assimilation.

Ethnologists speculate the Mon originated both in India or Mongolia, travelling south to settle on the western banks in the Chao Phraya valley in the very first century BC. Below they founded the Dvaravati kingdom (sixth to eleventh hundreds of years AD), creating centres at U Thong, Lopburi and Nakhon Pathom and later consolidating a northern kingdom in Haripunchai (fashionable-working day Lamphun). They probably released Theravada Buddhism to the area, and produced a few of the earliest Buddhist monuments, notably Wheels of Law and Buddha footprints.

Around around the Burmese facet of the border, the Mon kingdom had established itself throughout the southern metropolis of Pegu nicely ahead of the Burmese filtered into the area in the ninth century, but by the mid-eighteenth century they'd been stripped of their homeland and were being Again relocating to Thailand. The Thais welcomed them as being a handy supply of labour, and in 1814 the longer term Rama IV arrived on the Kanchanaburi border with three royal warboats along with a guard of honour to chaperone the exiles. Swathes of undeveloped jungle were given over to them, a lot of that are nonetheless Mon-dominated right now.

The persecution of Burmese Mon carries on to at the present time below Burma's repressive routine (see Refugees from Burma: the Karen), and the Mon continue to struggle for the ideal to administer their own personal unbiased Mon State within their historical homelands opposite Kanchanaburi province in decreased Burma. As one particular commentator has described it, while some of Burma's ethnic minority groups seek out to determine autonomy, the Mon are aiming to reclaim it. While The brand new Mon State Occasion (NMSP) entered right into a ceasefire settlement with the Burmese junta in June 1995, Intercontinental human-legal rights companies proceed to report gross violations versus civilian Mon living in Burma. 1000s of Mon Adult men, Females and children are already push-ganged into unpaid labour, soldiers occupy certain Mon villages and commandeer produce and livestock, and reports of beatings and gang rapes aren't uncommon. Within an try to wipe out Mon lifestyle, the junta has also banned the teaching of Mon language, literature and history in governing administration universities, and outlawed the putting on of Mon national costume at official institutions.

Not remarkably, Mon have already been fleeing these atrocities in droves, the majority ending up in a few resettlement camps in a very Mon-controlled place along the Thai–Burma border, the largest being Halockhani close to Sangkhlaburi; the eleven,000 Mon approximated to be residing in these camps as of Oct 2011 don't have any proper of entry into Thailand. To learn more, see the web site of the Human Rights Basis of Monland.

Like Thais, the Mon certainly are a predominantly Buddhist, rice-developing people today, Nevertheless they also have sturdy animist beliefs. All Mon families have totemic home spirits, including the turtle, snake, chicken or pig, which carry sure taboos; in the event you're from the hen-spirit loved ones, such as, the lungs and head of every chicken you Prepare dinner ought to be provided into the spirits, and Despite the fact that you're allowed to raise and kill chickens, you have to never ever give 1 absent. Visitors belonging to another spirit team from their host are not allowed to continue to be right away. Mon festivals also differ a bit from Thai ones – at Songkhran (Thai New Calendar year), the Mon spice up the standard drinking water-throwing and parades with a Particular courtship ritual during which groups of men and ladies Engage in one another at bowling, throwing flirtatious banter as well as their picket discs.

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