The final report to the government by the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) contains recommendations designed to help restore peace and promote economic and social development in the strife-torn deep South. Most of the proposals merit serious attention by the general Thai public and could serve as a basis for rational public debate on how best to build mutual trust and better understanding between residents of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces and the rest of Thai society.

Ideas like the proposed promotion of the locally predominant dialect of Malay - commonly known as Yawi - as a "working" language within the region apparently has not gone down well with those who stubbornly cling to old mind-sets. They believe that making Malay Thais learn the Thai language as part of state-enforced assimilation is the best approach.

But that is overly simplistic.

It may be true that a lack of Thai-language proficiency has prevented Malay Thais from fully exploiting opportunities to advance economically and socially in mainstream Thai society. To those who subscribe to this line of thinking, poor Thai language skills have held them back, leading to resentment and frustration and in turn making them vulnerable to manipulation by Islamic militants and Malay separatists.

But such conventional thinking is flawed, because it fails to take into account the uniqueness of Malay Thais as a community with a distinct language, religion, culture and way of life. Malay Thais do desire to get ahead in this society, just like everyone else, but many also attach great importance to preserving their Malay identity.

Past mistakes by the Thai government to force Malay Thais to conform to narrowly defined "Thainess" by promoting the Thai language while trying to suppress local language usage continues to be a source of resentment to many in the deep South even today. So much so that Malay Thais tend to see the Thai language as a tool of oppression or a conspiracy to destroy Malay identity.

But today, such widely held notions are a bit far-fetched and coloured by a lingering distrust.

And this distrust is mutual. State officials continue to regard Malay Thais' reluctance fully to embrace the Thai language as a sign of disloyalty bordering on treason and thus a potential national-security threat.

Both sides must overcome such mutual distrust and fear based on painful historical memories and meet halfway. Clearly, the first step towards reconciliation is for both sides to build confidence based on mutual respect.

The Malay Thai community should realise that learning the Thai language does not mean abandoning Malay identity. On the contrary, Thai-language proficiency should enable fuller participation in the democratic process and a better ability to protect personal interests.

As for the proposed use of Yawi as a working language in government offices, there is absolutely no reason why this should have provoked an overreaction from Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda and government leaders. They are reportedly opposed to the idea of Yawi becoming a "second official language" in the deep South, even though the NRC proposal's exact wording is "working language".

The government ought to learn from the private sector, from operators of big department stores to non-Malay small-business owners, who already make sure any public announcements or interpersonal communications are made in both Thai and Yawi. Why? Because it's good for business.

And the last time we checked, the main business of government officials was still to provide the best public service they can to the public. Surely for these civil servants to be able to greet the public with a few phrases of a simple Yawi greeting would not hurt anyone. Having Yawi speakers on hand to assist locals who cannot communicate in Thai would be a nice gesture, even though the official language at all government offices must remain Thai.

There would be no better way to show sincerity and goodwill towards Malay Thais and reassure them of our respect for their identity within our multicultural society. And it would cost nothing to say, "Saya boleh jakap bahasa Melayu" ("I can speak Malay").