Being “Nayoo” in Malaysia: Life of Thai-Melayu Muslim Students and their Adaptations

Abstract

The main purpose of the arguments in this article is to point out that the studies that related to the adaptation in the living space of Melayu-Muslim youths in Malaysia in the past tend to focus only on the concepts, theories, and research frameworks that are limited to a single research area. These observations can be found in the research paper entitled "Itƒ??s Hard to be Malay." conducted by Sarayut Aimauryut. Besides, another research paper written by Muhammad Arafat Bin Mohamad illustrated some of the images on the border-crossing- life between two research areas. However, there still has a lack of observation at other dimensions especially the cross-cultural dimension, resulting in no comparative analysis between peopleƒ??s society and culture. Also, it did have the ideological transmission of the ideas and an exchange of different cultures, whether within the context of Thai society or a
crossing of border of Thai-Melayu Muslim youths.
Therefore, the important content of this article is the analysis of the adaptation in the living space of Thai-Melayu Muslim students in Malaysia who are studying in two universities, namely International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and University Utara Malaysia (UUM). The analysis showed that the relationship between Thai-Melayu Muslim students in Malaysia and their country, Thailand, remained strong. The interviewees mentioned that they remained committed to Thailand despite living and studying in Malaysia particularly a frequent interaction between their parents who still lived in Thailand. Besides, the students also still looked for and consumed Thai cultures even they were far away from home  Although Thai students in Malaysia could regularly travel back and forth between Thailand and Malaysia borders (on average of once a month), it did not indicate that cross-border activities and cultures of Thailand would continue flowing without shifting back and forth. Therefore, the cross-border activities of Thai-Melayu Muslim students in Malaysia in terms of culture and the adaptation would occur according to the opportunities and the limitations in 2 social, and economic. Also, the political issues of the two countries involved. (Thailand -Malaysia) was an important aspect.

Keywords

Adaptation Malaysia Melayu Youths

  • Research Identity (RIN)

  • License

    Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

  • Language & Pages

    English, Array-Array

  • Classification

    NA