VZCZCXRO1301
PP RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0161 2700412
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 270412Z SEP 06
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0282
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0555
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 0320

C O N F I D E N T I A L CHIANG MAI 000161 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  9/27/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PINR OIIP OEXC TH
SUBJECT: IRAQ IS ABOUT OIL, THAI ISLAMIC OFFICIAL TELLS NORTHERN 
MUSLIM LEADERS 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Beatrice Camp , Consul General, Consulate Chiang 
Mai, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary.   Thailand's highest ranking Islamic official 
told northern Muslim leaders at a recent gathering that the U.S. 
invaded "Iraq because of oil; Iran is because of oil."  In his 
remarks, the 91-year old Chularajamontri also praised the royal 
family, criticized the Pope and blamed the Jews.   End summary 
 
¶2.   (U)  Muslim leaders gathered in Chiang Mai Sept. 16-17 for 
an annual seminar, with the Consul General and Consulate 
political specialist invited for the opening ceremony presided 
over by Sawat Sumalayasak, appointed to the position of 
Chularajamontri, or State Counselor for Thai Islamic affairs, 
six years ago by the King.    The invitation to the U.S. 
Government representatives was a sign of the long-standing good 
relations between the Consulate and the Chiang Mai Provincial 
Islamic Council (PIC), most recently strengthened by a Public 
Affairs-sponsored Islamic speaker program and post's nomination 
of an Imam from Mae Sariang for the International Visitor 
Program. 
 
¶3.  (U)  According to former Chiang Mai PIC chairman Imam 
Mustafa Hassan, the 87 attendees included executive committee 
members from the Provincial Islamic Committees of Chiang Mai, 
Chiang Rai and Tak, the three northern provinces with large 
enough Muslim populations to support such committees, as well as 
representatives from mosques from most of the 17 northern 
provinces.   Similar seminars are held annually in all regions. 
Intended to strengthen the relationship between the government 
sector and the country's Muslim community, these seminars are 
funded by the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Culture's 
Department of Religion Affairs. 
 
¶4.  (C)   In his Sept. 16 remarks opening the seminar, the 
Chularajamontri, who is regarded as the spiritual leader of all 
Thai Muslims and chief functionary of the Islamic religious 
system in Thailand, discussed Islamic principles and political 
aspects of global development.  He began by praising the royal 
family's dedication to duty in the goal of national unity as a 
model for Muslims to emulate.   The Chularajamontri described 
himself as saddened by the Pope's recent remarks linking Islam 
with violence, noting that the remarks could easily lead to 
further misunderstanding between religious communities that are 
already in conflict.   He continued by stating that the U.S. 
invasion of  Iraq and  "imminent invasion" of Iran are "because 
of oil", adding "excuse me" in an apparent nod to the presence 
of the Consul General.  He blamed the U.S. actions on Jews and 
concluded that Islam is the religion that can guarantee peace. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Before becoming Thailand's national Islamic spiritual 
leader in 2000, Chularajamontri Sawat was a teacher at Bangkok's 
Islamic College in Bangkok and a politician at both municipal 
and national levels, serving as a Bangkok MP with the Democrat 
Party in the 1970s.     Appointed by the King for life, Sawat is 
not universally popular throughout Thailand's Muslim community, 
especially in the south.   In recent months, a group in Bangkok 
has demanded his resignation on the grounds of irregularities in 
halal administration.   Pramarn Mooktaree, Chiang Mai PIC 
representative on the national Central Islamic Committee (CIC), 
dismissed the charges as personal attacks trumped up by losing 
candidates in the CIC election.   Some Internet bloggers claimed 
the campaign to remove him was being engineered by the Thai Rak 
Thai party, at least partly because of Sawat's Democrat Party 
affiliation. 
 
¶6. (C) Comment:   The Chularajamontri delivered his anti-U.S., 
anti-Semitic comments in a gentle, non-strident way; the 
audience, almost exclusively men wearing yellow shirts 
signifying loyalty to the King, listened in the same polite 
manner.   Following the ceremony he chatted briefly with the 
VIPs, including Thai government officials and the Consul 
General, before departing.  Both the low-key delivery and 
reaction suggested that the sentiments expressed were nothing 
out of the ordinary in the local Muslim community 
 
CAMP