Normally prime time for television is 8-11pm or thereabouts, the period when the family gathers to watch news and series while having dinner. So it will come as a surprise to many that for Muslim audiences during this month of Ramadan, prime time for television is closer to a graveyard shift -- 3-4.30am, deep in the night while most people are asleep -- as families wake up for the pre-dawn meal before a full day of fasting.
"If you visit a Muslim family at 4am this month, you'll see the house lit up with everyone sitting at the table eating and talking and maybe watching TV," says Kaweenipon Ketprasit, director of a series on Islamic topics. "It's unusual, but this is Ramadan."
Kaweenipon and his team produce a 26-part television documentary called Salam Thailand for Thai PBS. The programme, which explores Islamic culture in different regions around Thailand, is on air during this Islamic fasting month at 4am, the first slot in the station's daily schedule, and the series will conclude roughly when Ramadan ends around July 5.
In Muslim countries, this is not unusual (Indonesia's prime time television starts at 10 or 11pm during Ramadan). For Thailand, subcultural TV shows inject diversity to the airwaves and give room to the minority voice. Besides Thai PBS, several other national channels this month carry Islamic programmes: Channel 5 has Ramadan Kareem and Ramadan Time; Thai Rath TV has Ramadan Night, enjoying its 13th year on air; and state-run NBT has Shahru Ramadan, produced by a team of Shi-ite Muslims.
These programmes, which are on air around 3-5am, cover a wide range from Islamic scholarship to lifestyles: there are sermons by Imams and light-hearted human interest subjects. Some have a section about the Middle East, others have a cooking show featuring Muslim food. Travel, personality interviews and even fashion are in the mix. Ramadan Night also airs a drama series from Indonesia -- it's prime time after all -- as well as updates on the Deep South, the predominantly Muslim region.
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, roughly from 4.30am-6.50pm in Thailand. Eating is permitted at night, and usually Muslims wake up before dawn to have a suhur meal as preparation for the long day of abstinence. Naturally, that's when they turn on the TV.
Aroon Wittayanont has produced Muslim TV programmes for Ramadan for over 20 years.
"In the 1990s, we aired only on the first and last day of the month," he says. "But in the past 10 years we have had a show on every night during the fasting period. There is interest from the audience and from the sponsors, and the TV channels welcome different content, even though the slot, late at night, is unusual."
The content and presentation of most Islamic TV programmes also speak of a changing attitude, one that is less culturally exclusive. In the past, Aroon says, anything to do with Islam meant a serious religious discussion, and most Muslim shows were about Koranic particulars and theological debates featuring Imams. Now, at least for this producer, he wants to "make Islam easier" to the core Muslim audience but hopefully to non-Muslim viewers as well.
Aroon's Ramadan Night is on air for the 13th year and for the first time on the new digital channel, Thai Rath TV. Starting at 3.30am, the show has a section on Islamic teaching, followed by a travel documentary in which a host visits Muslim communities in non-Muslim countries (Korea and Japan this month). Next, it has a section about the Deep South; although this part is made in coordination with the state's security agencies, it focuses on telling stories from the local point of view. Then there's an interview with inspirational Muslim figures, followed by a cooking show, and around 4.15am it ends with an Indonesian drama series.
In short, the programme has an Islamic theme, though it is far from being a religious show.
"It's all about the way we try to communicate," he says. "Islam doesn't have to be boring -- I mean religion doesn't have to be boring. Also, we realise that even though our viewers are mainly Muslim, it's best to try to communicate with everyone in society, to let them see the Muslim life. To have a preacher on TV talking to the camera no longer works.
"A few years ago we produced our own drama series on the theme of motherly love. It is based on Islamic teachings and it stars well-known Thai TV actors such as Sinjai Hongthai. After the show went on air, I got letters from non-Muslims who watched it and wanted to share their stories with us. There was a monk writing to me to tell me how he understands Islam more from watching it."
Aroon adds that Ramadan Night has sponsors that are both Muslim as well as regular companies, including the petroleum giant PTT.
At a time when Muslims are in the news often for all the wrong reasons, and Islam is being scrutinised through a political lens, moderate Muslims seem to feel the need to speak up. In Thailand, the Deep South trouble doesn't contribute to the image of the religion, even though such trouble isn't religious in the first place. Some of these Ramadan programmes, though not all, seem to confirm the tendency to expand dialogue and communication.
That's one reason Kaweenipon and his team produce Salam Thailand for Thai PBS. Admitting that the late-night airing may be a big disadvantage, the director believes that with YouTube reruns and other social media channels, this 26-part documentary should be able to reach a wider audience beyond Ramadan.
Salam Thailand, which is part of the "Thang Nam Chee Wit" project ("The Guiding Path"), visits Muslim communities in various parts of Thailand to show that Islam is not just about the South and that each community has been shaped by history, culture, migration and influences that are more than just Islamic.
"You just look at the people we interview and you'll see: there are Muslims who look like Chinese -- they're from the North -- or Muslims that look northeastern," says Kaweenipon. "In Mae Sot, Tak province, the Muslim community there descended from a unit of the Kuomintang army. In Udon Thani, many Muslims are of Pathan origin [Pushtun] mixed with local converts.
"But we want to show more than just ethnicities or history. The programme visits these people and talk to them to show that Muslims have the same problems as non-Muslims: economic problems, family problems, drug problems, identity problems, or how a community handles changes around them brought by modern development, etc. We have an episode about Muslims in Pattaya, and they talk about how they have to deal with the reality of the place while maintaining their identity."
Besides the special-for-Ramadan programmes, there are several Muslim cable channels that air all year round, namely Yateem TV, White Channel, Banjong TV and more. By nature, they are strictly for Muslim audiences.
"For Muslims and non-Muslims, there are many ways to learn more about the religion," says Aroon of Ramadan Night. "You can learn about Islam through movies, or through lifestyles. Even after Ramadan, that's the direction we should continue to pursue."
