METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH CONTEXT
3.5 RESEARCH CONTEXT
3.5.2. Khun Laharn Local Museum
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research studies the phenomenon by using the concept of causal mechanism of the national museum in building the imagination of collective memory of the Melayu brotherhood.
3.5.2. Khun Laharn Local Museum
Figure 16 : A two-storey building in Melayu architecture is where the Khun Laharn Local Museum is located. The building is not far from the community center of Gadeng Village. On the first floor is now an open space for cultural activities, as well as shops and residentual area. The second floor is where the main exhibition located.
Khun Laharn Local Museum is a local museum in the Gadeng village, Laharn sub-district, Yi-ngo district, Narathiwat province, the Southernmost province of Thailand. The museum opened to the public in 2008 and was founded by Rasmin Nititham, the great-grandson of Khun Laharn, who has collected the antiques of his ancestor and modified some spaces of his house to become the museum. The museum is located within a local Melayu community and is not far from the village where Khun Laharn, a community leader, had stayed. Although the museum is a private property of Rasmin Nititham, it is administered by a committee consisting of 16 members. The objective of the museum is to preserve and inherit the Melayu local history, traditions and people's everyday life by exhibiting personal collections of Khun Laharn, local Melayu antique
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artifacts and art objects, and cooperating with the nearby communities by organizing workshops and arts activities.
The local legends and history, which has never been formally recorded in the official narrative, is reproduced as the core structure of the museum’s narratives. Rasmin Nititham began his journey of being a curator by collecting the objects and compiling the legends and stories, especially the treasures he inherited from his ancestors, and by collecting the antique objects from Melayu local villages. The core narratives of the museum and most of the exhibitions are related to the life of Khun Laharn and the notion of prosperity of Melayu local village of Gadeng.
Figure 17 : Rasmin Nititham, a curator of Khun Laharn Local Museum, giving a museum tour. In this picture, he is seen in the Khun Laharn biography room, which is the main narrative of the museum.
Khun Laharn (Sukarakyat), from the museum narratives, was born during the reign of King Chulalongkorn of Siam (King Rama V, 1868-1910) and lived through the reign of King Vajiravudh of Siam (King Rama VI, 1910-1925). Born to the family of Nikueji, a bodyguard of Sultan of Saiburi, his ancestor was promoted to the position of the protector of Yi-ngo district by Siamese authority (In that time, Patani and the Melayu cities nearby were de jure annexed as a part of Siam by the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909). However, the exact time of his birth is still under investigation after Rasmin Nititham found new evidence which disputed the original story.
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Khun Laharn story started with his journey along the Melayu states. He is said to show the characteristics of a brave person and have interacted with many important Melayu persons. The story goes that he built and governed the village of Gadeng, and was a heroic leader that protected and developed the area while maintaining peaceful cooperation with other ethnic groups. He was described as a charismatic governor that could guard the village against the criminals, and succeeded in building the main road and the Melayu Gadeng school. The mysterious power of his treasure was also described in detail. For instance, his ring was believed to possess the power to cure toxin. Likewise, some of Khun Laharn’s treasures which represented his connection with the Siamese governor, were exhibited.
Figure 18 : Melayu students painting batik in a pattern inspired by the local birdcage desing. This activity is joined by more than 30 participants each year.
The museum consists of six exhibitions, depicting the journey of Melayu people. Starting with
‘the World of Melayu in Ancient Time’, the museum exhibits miniatures of the 300-year-old Talo Mano mosque and Masjid Kerisek which depict the glorious past of Melayu Patani and the tragedy brought from Siam and Thailand. The exhibitions continue with the Melayu appliances, Melayu ceremonies and traditions, Melayu and fishery, Melayu weapons, and Melayu everyday life. The Khun Laharn room is located in the middle of the exhibitions.
Interestingly, this museum appears to be like a ‘cultural corridor’, as there have been a lot of Melayu workshops and activities organized at the museum that allowed members of the neighborhoods to participate.
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The museum was selected by the Department of Cultural Promotion, Ministry of Culture of Thailand, to represent Narathiwat province and to become a ‘Chalerm Racha Khun Laharn Museum and Culture Center’ to commemorate the 84th birthday anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX, 1946-2016). By doing so, the museum was able to receive the budget from the government to fund its exhibitions and activities.
This study focuses on the Khun Laharn local museum as an ethno-nationalism museum which narrates the Melayu nation and its identity through the exhibitions of local antiquities, the Melayu glorious past, and the story of Khun Laharn. The anecdote of Khun Laharn were reproduced as a legendary brave protector and local leader for Melayu Muslim local village and its brotherhood in deep South Thailand . The study investigated the causal mechanisms of the museum in building the imagination of collective memory of Melayu brotherhood.