College of Law, Government and International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia.
Abstract
Oghae Nayu (Malay Muslim people) who are Malay ethnic from the lower southern Thailand are also one of the unauthorized foreign workers in Malaysia. Tom Yam restaurants are Thai Halal food business which sells Thai national identity among Oghae Nayu. This paper seeks to explain the role of Thai national identities created and used by Nayu workers in Malaysia. Drawing up examples based on six months between 2008, November to 2009, April of qualitative approach fieldwork, participant observation and in-depth interviews of Nayu migrant workers from the lower southern provinces of Thailand employed at Tom Yam restaurants in Kuala Lumpur by use of snowballing technique. Tom Yam restaurants as a Thai Halal cuisine are popular among Malaysian Muslims scattered across Malaysia. However, there are no Tom Yam restaurants in lower southern Thailand similar to those in Malaysia. The first Tom yam restaurant run in Kuala Lumpur in the 1970s by Oghae Siye Islae who are Thai-speaking Muslim originally from Songkhla, Thailand and then the restaurants spread out through Oghae Nayu who are Malay-speaking Muslims from Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, Thailand. These businesses continue to employ Nayu migrant workers from their home who speak the same language as owners. The same ethnicity and culture are not only reason that why restaurant owners prefer to employ them and also using Nayu workers for Thai identity serve to sell Thai cuisine
