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19 ประจำป
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2. To define regional benefits in research rather than focussing on one country or
on national programs that have limited relevance in a border region is a brave approach if
nation-building and security are promoted as necessary foci for ‘development’. This presents
particularly difficult decisions for objective academics and may require personal decisions
that do not attract the easier and larger research grants offered by government. In a university
intent on increasing its research profile, this need not be a problem and does not mean that
academics should be involved in politics masquerading as research. Objective research
serves the interests of all constructive parties, be they government, NGOs or communities.
In border regions in general, national programs that assume cultural uniformity and economic integrity
may not always be useful. For example, assuming that there is only one version of local history or even
of religion can indicate a lack of objectivity to local conditions, especially if the culture of university
staff differs from that of the majority of students. The need for objectivity exists on all sides of borders.
One means of reducing research bias across borders is joint consideration of local researchable
subjects and joint planning to ensure that all objectivity is maintained by all research parties.
In this interest, a well-managed graduate research program would broaden candidates’
regional competence and sensitivity using such resources as the ISTS.
24
3. In advising that research should focus on local residents rather than imagined
communities and should be based on understanding local viewpoints and needs, there
may be a benefit in learning from disinterested foreigners. For example, in this region local persons
and communities may be viewed by a non-Thai non-Malaysian researcher as all of one group, which
may in fact be a useful view if it aligns with some views locals have of themselves. Johnson
25
demonstrates this in his paper concerning Thai communities in Kelantan and their cross-border
world with free movement for festivals supported by continual communication that is now
facilitated by internet chats that serve to maintain an element of ‘Thai-ness’ among these groups
– just as occurs for Malay-ness in Thailand. Awareness of this cultural base-line for research
can clarify the relevance of received ideas from elsewhere in either country. For example, public
relations research based on co-operative learning in Bangkok and the North-East region that
assumes moral values and a specific form of community culture based on Thai State Buddhism
26
may not be universally appropriate for the South. Appropriate applied research generates knowledge
that enhances the efficacy of action as the saying attributed to Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s confident,
has it – ‘without knowledge action is useless and knowledge without action is futile’.
24
Institute for Southern Thai Studies, Thaksin University, Songkhla.
25
Irving Johnson, Harvard University. Movement and Identity Construction Amonst Kelantan’s Thai Com-
munity.
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26
Hanpongpandh, P.(2003) Buddhist Public Relations Model for Thai Community Development: Theoreti-
cal and Practical Implications Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication As-
sociation, Marriott Hotel, San Diego, CA Online
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