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2) The confusion between Patani Malay identity and Thai-Buddhist identity: From 1977 - 1987,
Patani Malay people mostly used the Patani Malay language. After 2004, it was found that many people
used Thai. That is the effect of confusion about their identity. The people who used only the Patani Malay
language were less confused about their identity than those who used the Patani Malay language and Thai
language because Thai is representative of Thai people who are mostly Buddhists. (Prachuabmoh, 2007)

Furthermore, Patani Malay people refer to themselves as "Patani Malay"- a term that
encompasses Islamic faith and Patani Malay ethnicity. This is a clear manifestation of a distinct identity
that is different from Thai-Buddhist. Patani Malay people desire to preserve their identity by
communicating in the Patani Malay language. (Saleh, 2016)

3) The area of the Patani Malay identity: Teaching and studying in tadika offer on opportunity to
share, present, and promote the identity of the Patani Malay people. Accordingly, tadika are the primary
schools for teaching the Jawi language and Patani Malay identity. (Pienkhuntod, 2019)

In conclusion, the identity of Patani Malay people is linked to the education policies that prioritize
the teaching of the central Thai language and Thai culture. That effectively dilutes Patani Malay identity.
However, teaching in Tadika is part of preserving Patani Malay identity because the teachers can use Patani
Malay language to teach Jawi, and Rumi scripts. Thus, this article uses the identity of Patani Malay people
to analyze how tadika are an important part of revitalizing and preserving Patani Malay identity.

MTB-BE concept

Premsirat (2015) introduced The Patani - Malay Thai Bilingual Education research project in
schools near the southern border of Thailand. The objective is to provide an effective and suitable teaching
and learning approach for Malay-speaking children by developing their cognitive skills as well as their
ability to use Thai as a language of learning by initially using local language and cultural knowledge and
then transferring their ability to studying Thai. Community academics and other stakeholders are actively
involved in every stage of the working process, especially in the development of orthography, curriculum,
lesson planning, instruction material production, and teaching within the framework of bilingual education
using the child-centered principle. The project shows very positive results. (Premsrirat. S, 2015)
In implementing the Patani Malay - Thai MTB-BE program, the child-centered approach starts with
the known to help the child understand the unknown, as shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1

From the known to unknown (Premsrirat. S, 2015)

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