Social Interaction: A Study on the Openness Attitude of Both Religion Believers towards the Other Believers in the Southern Thailand

The Southern of Thailand citizens are known as the plural society that possesses various different religions. Even though the citizens are from multi-religious society, the majority of them are Muslims and followed by the Buddhists. It is a continuous issue for the religious believers in the Southern of Thailand in communicating with the other religious believers. Their interaction process is always accompanied by the suspicion and doubt among each other. Among the concepts of harmonious living in a religious pluralism society, openness attitude is the most important basic concept. It plays the significant role as a tool to form a good relationship among people. Therefore, this study is meant to scrutinize to which extent the religious teaching that teaches on the religious harmonious of life influence its believers in interpreting it to an openness attitude in their daily interaction. This study utilised two main methods namely the qualitative and the quantitative approaches. The results from the descriptive analysis depict that most of religious believers in the Southern of Thailand possess the openness attitude in interacting with the other believers at a good level as 40.02% of them agreed, and 30.96% of them strongly agreed on the issue. Hence, the findings have convinced the study that majority of the citizens in the Southern of Thailand are highly motivated to live harmoniously. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that there are some of the religious believers failed to practice the openness attitude when interacting with the other believers, so it is a must to identify the causes in order to offer the best solution for it.


Introduction
Presently, the religious believers are facing the new challenge which is the conflict among the other religious believers in the pluralism society.It is a strong phenomenon that cannot be avoided as it is the sunnatullah or the law of nature determined by Allah (S.W.T).The pluralism society can summon people towards a good cooperation and openness attitude as mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah verse 213 which focuses on issue of the believers' unity under one God, the specific religion brought by the Prophets and the role of wahyu in comforting the various religious believers (al-Sha c rawi, 1991).The declaration of religious pluralism by Islam has proved that Islam acknowledges the nobility of human being by treating all human equally.The human differences cannot be avoided as they are the sunnatullah or the law of nature.In the other words, human are naturally created by Allah (S.W.T) in various shapes, races, tribes and cultures (Al-Kabaysi, 2012).However, the differences are not basically created to invite fight among human being (Muslim, 2011), as the creation is meant to teach human being in acknowledging the pluralism society and supporting the good relationship among them.This is important in forming the cooperative, kind hearted, respected, loving, and united society to complement each other and avoiding conflicts (Osman, 1997).There are few concepts that support the forming of the harmonious life among the believers in the pluralism society are respect, (al-Karamah al-Insaniyyah), fairness (al-c Adalah), equality (al-Musawah), tolerance (al-Tasamuh) and other good values ( c Uthman, 1968).The basic concept of forming the harmonious living of religious believers is the openness attitude.It is a principle that prioritizes the accommodation instead of conflict as each religion has its own truth to be raised, even though the real society has been proven to be heterogenic culturally and religiously.Hence, the openness attitude is the significant way to develop the awareness on various unique possibilities that can enhance the human effort in searching for spiritual and moral harmony (Jais, 2012).Syaefullah (2014) stressed that one basic element in forming the political society or civil society is religion.In addition, civil society can only be formed if the society acknowledges the openness attitude.Even though the openness attitude is regarded as the positive attitude without any conflict, the researcher did not ignore the negative attitude as one of the interactions approach throughout the study.By referring to the concept mentioned earlier, it will be the basic concept in examining to which extent the openness attitude able to form the good relationship among the religious believers especially in the Southern of Thailand.This study focuses on three main districts which are Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.These districts are known as the plural society with the balanced numbers of Muslims and Buddhists

Background of the Study and Research Methodology
It is an undeniable fact that the multi-religious and multiracial society is exposed to the conflict among the religious believers whether caused by attitude or action.History recorded that any conflict that is caused by the different religions and races is extremely serious and complicated to be solved.In the other words, the higher the level of difference, the higher the level of seriousness among both believers (Che Man, 2002).As a result, the relationship among the believers is accompanied by prejudice, discrimination and also obsession towards their own respective religion.Those attitudes can be seen from a stronger race that dominates the weaker race as they have different religious practices, customs and cultures.They are also the nature of culture that exists in any multi-religious or multiracial society (Hasamak, 2009).
Muslims in the Southern of Thailand are not excluded from that nature of culture.It is a fact that the Muslims in the Southern of Thailand are continuously facing the social challenge.This happened as they are the minorities in Thailand.Even though the Siam government seems to put an extremely hard effort to grant the equal right to all citizens, it is noticed that they do not really acknowledge Thailand as the country of plural society.This is proved by their organized programmes that victimize the freedom right of the Malay Muslims in the Southern of Thailand.For instance, the Thai Ratha Niyom (Declaration of Thai Culture) policy in 1939 that brought worries and threats to the society especially Muslims as the implementation of the policy is meant to instil the western culture and raise the Buddhism policy that clearly victimized the minorities Malay Muslims' identities in the Southern of Thailand.In order to assure the success of the Thai Ratha Niyom policy, the government of Thailand formed "Cultural Policy" in 1940(Ibrahim, 2005).
They are tied to abide by the rules of Thailand as they hold the citizenship of Thailand.The state causes the process of integrating the culture among Muslims is closely linked to the teaching brought by the religion, custom, rules of society and internationalism.This incident caused worries among Muslims especially the Malays in their effort of fighting for religion and identity; therefore they committed various actions to fight the government of Thailand.As a result, those occurred actions affect the social integration process among the society in the Southern of Thailand negatively.The effect also suggested that there are prejudice and suspicion among the Buddhists towards the custom and cultural practices of Muslims.The statement is supported by the local sociologists such as Supab, C. (1974), Duangpattra, S. (1977) and Pissuwan, S. (1982) who state that the relationship of religious believers in the Southern of Thailand is accompanied by the prejudice and suspicion especially among the enforcement groups towards Muslims.Moreover, they do not merely ignore the culture and religious practices among the Muslims, but they also insult them as stupid, mislaid and other negative accusations.In addition, the interaction between the Muslims and the government officers of Thailand portrays the relationship between the ruler and the people who are being ruled, and not a relationship between the public servants to the public as practiced in the other democratic countries.
Although the effort of forming the harmonious living among the religious believers appeared to be extremely committed by various parties, the controversial issues are still present as they have been the continuous debate among the local sociologists, politicians and religious representatives regarding the interaction of religious believers in the Southern of Thailand.In brief, this is a study involving the major religious believers of the Southern of Thailand which are Muslims and Buddhists.It is meant to scrutinize to which extent the religious teaching of both religions that call for the harmonious living can influence the believers in interpreting the openness attitude towards the other believers in their daily interaction process.This research there are two methods combined for the purpose of this study namely the qualitative and the quantitative approaches.The variable for qualitative method is concluded using the non-numeric form, while the numeric form is utilised to present the quantitative method.Hence, the findings can be strengthened as the combination methods are utilised (Creswell, 1994).Frechtling, S. & Westat (1992), claimed that: "The evaluator's understanding of findings can be firmed, while the instrumentation for data collection can be improved with the presence of two methods combination" By using the qualitative approach, comprehensive data and information on the studied subject can easily be obtained by the researcher.This is because, the personality of a respondent is impossible to be evaluated, explained and discussed with the mere presence of quantitative method.Fink (1995) defined observation method as a system in collecting data for explanation, comparison and explanation on the knowledge, attitude and behaviour.Briefly, the chosen method which is observation was carried out based on the statement that provides explanation, combination and relationship between the open-minded attitude of both society and the level of understanding on freedom of religion towards the other religious believers.On the other hand, the open-minded attitude of the society towards the other religious believers is by some means allied to the reasons that influence their level of understanding on that issue.
The residents of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat city are the chosen samples of this study.Based on the data described in government documents found the population distribution is imbalanced even though generally the Muslims and Buddhists population is equitable.Muslims are the majority living in Pattani while Buddhists are the majority living in Yala, and the rests of them are living in Narathiwat.The investigation is carried out in the three respective districts.Firstly, the reliability of the chosen samples in obtaining the data by was determined by some observations conducted by the researcher.The structured table of Krejcie & Morgan (1970) is referred to in the process of choosing the population and samples as it used the stratified sampling procedure.As a result, there are 380 people per area identified as the research population as referred to the primed conditions.

Instrument
Questionnaires, interview and direct observation are the main research instruments utilised in the study.The chosen instruments are based on the easiness forms offered by them in obtaining the data from the identified respondents.In determining the attitude, interest, demographic and other details of the respondents, one of the important actions is by distributing the questionnaires (Wiseman, 1999).Besides, the study also utilised the structured interview as one of the instruments.There are various characteristics possessed by the target respondents, for examples local academicians, religious officers and the general worker.Thus, thorough information on the level of understanding towards the freedom of religion in relation to the declaration of the National Constitution of Thailand was obtained through the interview.In running the process of triangulation, the understanding on definite researched subjects is strongly supported (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2000).In addition, direct observation was the most appropriate instrument in investigating the genuine details of certain issues.Thus, the subject's behaviour can be analysed by referring to the identified variables using the observation.It was done from any distance, as the changes of behaviour were observed by the researcher through listening, and looking at the behaviour of the subject.Therefore, a specific period was used by the researcher to observe the samples.
Observation method is one of the most appropriate instruments in examining the growth of social unit behaviour.It is important for the researcher to have appropriate and detailed preparation before conducting any observation.Other than that, the elements of a systematic observation are the specific objectives, good level of focus and perfectly written notes.Hence, the accuracy, verification and reliability of the written notes should be at a good state.
Observing, taking notes and recording event and behaviour for a specific studied field are among few actions involve in observation.Although subject's behaviour should be followed by the researcher, he or she is not supposed to be influenced by a specific behaviour.This is important to ensure the authenticity perception and data can be obtained (Mohd Majid, 1994).

Data Analysis
Level of the openness attitude towards the other believers in the southern of Thailand by both religious believers is investigated using the descriptive analysis method.The mean, mode, percentage and standard deviation are the main focus for the analysis completion.Besides, other details were also obtained statistically namely the profile of the subject, age, education level, gender, and marital status, and religion, friends of different religion, residential area and status of working.The mean scale table was used to interpret the data descriptively by having the descending arrangement starting from the highest to the lowest mean.Other than that, in the tabulation of data, the scores for the average difference were obtained by interpreting the standard deviation.Concisely, from the mean tabulation, the low to average value of standard deviation showed a little mean difference.The respondents recorded high consensus responses as shown by the low standard deviation.In contrast, as the value of standard deviation is high to the highest, the consensus responses from the respondents were considered low.

Findings
The level of the openness attitude among both religious believers towards the other believers was analysed descriptively.The researcher has developed the construct based on four elements which are the religious teaching practice and belief, patriotism, customs and cultural practice, and the religion status (minority & majority).Overall, the mean analyses on the openness attitude of both religious believers towards the other believers are shown in the following table below.be practised in a society, there will be no brotherhood value among them (Al-Qardawi, 2001).This is also supported by Abu c Urwah where he said that the principles of relationship among human being and cooperate towards goodness and nurturing the society are the basis of Islamic social system (Abu c Urwah, 2001).
Briefly, the definitions suggest that unity, similarities and brotherhood among human being in the social relationship are the basic principles of Islamic social philosophy.Kassim agreed with the statement by stressing that unity, similarities and brotherhood are the basis for a cooperated society in the international social unity.If a society is formed by the mentioned philosophies, it can demolish the obsession towards race, social class, religion and others.Furthermore, the Islamic history displays that the motivation of humanity in the Islamic philosophy can guarantee the multiracial and multi-religious society can live harmoniously under the Islamic reign.In the other words, all the Islamic policies are meant to create the good relationship and brotherhood among human being, creating the understanding and cooperation, demolishing the wars and providing the safety, serenity and harmony in a society (Ahmad, 1984).
Apart from that, Abu Zahrah also expresses his opinion regarding the relationship among the Muslims and non-Muslims is formed based on goodness, nobility, justice, politeness, discussion, equal benefits and helping each other in preventing the negative elements that can destroy a society.These characteristics can create unity among the multi-ethnic society regardless their skin colour different status.The nobility of human being is formed by respecting the human souls without looking at the religions and ethnics.Thus, he summarized that the human relationship in Islam is formed based on the three main principles which is firstly, to allow all individuals to make a balanced effort based on their ability and divide the tasks based on the capability.Secondly, to give freedom for all individuals as long as they are not surpassing others' rights and allow them to make the effort as living in a society without the ultimate right, and finally, to help the weaker people regardless their differences (Abu Zahrah, 1987).In this case, al-Qardawi, Y. listed four basic principles in shaping the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in his writing Ghayr al-Muslimin fi al-Mujtami c al-Islamiyy.The first principle is the belief that human nobility regardless their religion, race and skin colour.This nobility is a guarantee for the right of an individual to be respected.The second principle is the belief that the religious differences among human being happened with the wills of Allah (S.W.T) who gave the freedom and choices to all creations for all their actions.The third principle is the belief that Muslims are not meant to question the non-Muslims' mistrust in this world, as Allah (S.W.T) is the one who is going to question them in the hereafter.The final principle is the belief that Allah (S.W.T) orders all believers to always be fair and behave nicely towards the non-Muslims.Other than that, Muslims should also realize that Allah (S.W.T) hates cruelty even though it is done by the Muslims to the non-Muslims (Al-Qardawi, 2001).
Similarly to Buddhism, as the religion is among the religions that supports the harmonious values among the religious believers.The convincing value in the religion is directly constructing the harmonious value among the religious believers.The harmonious concept offered by Buddhism is not merely a theory, but it should be practised in reality.For this purpose, Buddhism offers its teaching, for examples the Four Noble Truths, the Panca-Sila teaching, the Athha-Sila teaching, the Brahmavihara 4 or Appamanna teaching, the Disa 6 teaching, the Kalyanamitta-dhamma 7 teaching, the Kammatthana 40 teaching and the Saraniya Dhamma Sutta teaching.
There is also a famous story among the Buddhists that can give a good lesson in fighting for the harmonious living among the religious believers in a society.It is about the embracing of Buddhism by King Asoka.King Asoka lived as a Buddhist by being patiently tolerant and appreciating other religions by not insulting or mocking them.In living with religious values, King Asoka has stated: "Do not be too obsess with your own religion as it can make you insult other religions without a valid reason.If you want to criticize, do it properly.This is because; it can give benefits to your religion and other religions too.In contrast, if the religious believers being too fanatic towards their own religion, insulting other religions, criticizing other religions without valid reasons, that will only make them suffering loss.In order to build the harmonious living among the religious believers, every believer should realize that it is important for them to be a good listener and accept the opinions from other religious believers even though they are clearly different from their own religion" (Dhammika, 2006).
Apart from that, the teaching that supports the harmonious living among the believers is the Anguttara Nikaya teaching that states human being is the main factor that can support the forming of harmonious living among the believers.Hence, all human should place themselves in the society nicely without doing anything that can prohibit someone's freedom as it can cause conflict among the religious believers.The teaching stated that: "With the absence of hatred and stupidity, human are able to get to know themselves properly, control their minds perfectly, fill their souls with love, be sympathy endlessly, free from any stressful feeling, control their lust, clean and live peacefully" (The Book of the Gradual Sayings I Anguttara Nikaya.2000).
By referring to those teachings, it directly plays the role in forming the cooperative souls among the believers, possessing the agreement principle and accepting the difference, being religiously motivated in accepting and appreciating the presence of other religions which is different in terms of aspiration, normality and confidence.The teachings also formed the harmonious living of believers by promoting the freedom in wanting and believing on others, cooperating for equal benefits, do not stress on the difference of religions or beliefs, giving opportunities and space for others to fulfil their worshipping activities, respecting others who are practising their religious activities.By practising these attitudes, Buddhism has successfully spread the religion to all around the world, not just in India, but it has also reached the Western continent such as Greece, to the Southern continent such as Sri Lanka, to the Northern continent which are Tibet, China, Japan and Korea, to the Eastern continent such as Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Based on the descriptive analysis findings, both Islam and Buddhism nailed the summon of the harmonious living among the religious believers in a society as a significant policy that should be instil in every individual.
The harmonious living among the religious believers in a society can be successfully formed if every religion is aware on the cooperative values among the religious believers and possesses the principles of appreciating and loving each other.Besides, they should also avoid all the principles that can harm the harmonious living among the religious believers such as the obsession towards religion or the extreme self-belief, and looking down on the tolerance values that can support the harmonious living among the religious believers.In terms of the human nature, no one is willing to accept the contrasting ideas from the different religions of them.Therefore, it is important for every religion to understand the religious values that can lead to cooperation in a society and religious tolerance confidently, sincerely and patiently so that the harmonious living among the religious believers can be raised.That statement is supporting the view of Imam Munawwir, who stressed that the commotion occurred among the religious believers, is caused by the failure of them in understanding the tolerance value in socializing in a society (Munawwir, n. d.)

Conclusion
The overall descriptive findings in examining the level of openness attitude among the society towards the different religious believers proved that most of the religious believers in the Southern of Thailand possess a good level of the openness attitude among the society towards the different religious believers.This has also proven that the religious teaching regardless Islam or Buddhism has successfully influenced the believers to interpret and integrate the concept in their daily lives.In the other words, the reality happens as the effect of the religious teaching that is related to peace, tolerance and the harmonious living among the religious believers.As a result, the findings have strongly convinced that the society of the Southern of Thailand has the great awareness of living harmoniously and peacefully.

Table 1 .
Tabulation of mean and standard deviation on the openness attitude of both religious believers towards the other believers Source: The researcher (SD: Strongly Disagree, D: Disagree, LA: Less Agree, A: Agree, SA: Strongly Agree) The Average Percentage by the Respondents on the Questions Related to the Openness Attitude Towards the Different Religious Believers Among the Citizens in the Three Districts of the Southern of Thailand by Both Religious Believers Overall, the average percentage by the respondents on the questions related to the openness attitude of both religious believers towards the different religious believers among the citizens in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are stated in figure below.
Tableaboveshows the 20 items that are used to examine the openness attitude of both religious believers towards the other religious believers in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.The highest mean is scored by 19 items where four of them come from the attitude on the practice of religious ritual and belief;