This note reveals the evolving royal protection of Islam in Thailand, suggesting significant implications for religious equality.
The king of Thailand is tradionally considered to be the akhhasatsani hamf heh the protector or upholder of satsanZa and sdtsand ( religion ) in Thailand is virtually tanta ount to Buddhis This royal epithet however underwent a semantic change when the poliUcal upheaval of 1932 i roduced wcstern -style cQnstitutiQnalism and the modern concept of religious Iiberty in this aditionalSoutheast Asia kingdom Royal protectiQn was then extended to all religions in the land including the Isla of Thai -Malay subjects which had long been regarded with indifference by the Siamese gQvernment The first legal expression of the new religious policy was " The Royal Decree on the protection of Islam "( 1945 ) Royal protection of Islam is beillg brought about through a reQrganization of the ligion into a centralized hierarchy with the Chulanttchamontri as its head The process of reorganization seems however tQ be slower and mQre complicated than that of the Buddhist s ngha for histrica1 cultural and structura reaSQns
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Yoneo Ishii (1977) studied this question.
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