The Ghosts of the Past in Southern Thailand: Essays on the History and Historiography of Patani

Chapter 10: Historical Identity, Nation, and History-Writing: The Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand, 1940s–1980s

 Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian cHaPter 10 Historical Identity, Nation, and History-Writing: the Malay Muslims of Southern thailand, 1940s–1980s Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian  Evidently it was the recalcitrance and rebelliousness of Patani that led King Rama I (1782–1809) to break the sultanate up into seven political units, called hua muang or principalities.1 The main aim was to weaken the resources which had enabled Patani to repeatedly defy Bangkok’s authority. These Seven Principalities — Tani, Jaring/Yaring, Legeh/Ra-ngae, Saiburi, Raman, Yala and Nongchik — were separate political units with individual Malay rulers appointed by Bangkok.These Malay rulers were given the status of frontier provincial governors answerable to the governor of Songkhla, then Bangkok’s viceroy for the lower southern region. In retrospect, it is clear that with the 1809 disintegration of the old sultanate, Patani had lost not only its 1 On the history of relations between the Sultanate of Patani and Siam, see Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian, Thai-Malay Relations: Traditional Intra-Regional Relations from the Seventeenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1988), and “Historical and Contemporary Conditions of Muslim Thais,” in Muslims’ Rights in non-Muslim Majority Countries, ed. Abdul Monir Yaacob and Zainal Azam Abdul Rahman (Kuala Lumpur: Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia, 2002), pp. 1–28; Surin Pitsuwan, “Islam and Malay Nationalism: A Case Study of the Malay Muslims of South Thailand,” PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1982; Ibrahim Syukri, Sejarah Kerajaan Melayu Patani [The History of the Malay Kingdom of Patani], trans. Connor Bailey and John Miksic (Columbus: Ohio University Press, 1985); Omar Farouk, “The Muslims of Thailand,” in Islamika: Esei-Esei Sempena Abad ke Limabelas The Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand, 1940s–1980s  Hijrah, ed. Lupti Ibrahim (Kuala Lumpur: Sarjana Enterprise, 1981); A.D.W. Forbes, ed., The Muslims of Thailand, Vol. 2 , Politics of the Malay-speaking South (Bihar: Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, 1989); Wan Kadir Che Man, “The Demise of the Patani (Pattani) Sultanate: A Preliminary Enquiry,” in National Past: National History and National Historiography in Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam, ed. Putu Davies (Brunei Darussalam: Department of History, UBD, 1996); Rattiya Salleh, “Patani Darussalam (Melayu-Islam Patani),” in Rat pattani nai ‘sivichai’ [The Patani Polity within the Srivijaya Empire], ed. Sujit Wongthes (Bangkok: Matichon, 2004) and Nik Anuar Nik Mahmud, Sejarah Perjuangan Melayu Patani 1785–1954 [A History of the Struggle of the Patani Malays, 1785–1954] (Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 1999). Map 10.1 Map showing the division of the former Sultanate of Patani into seven principalities (hua muang) in the early 19th century. prathetsarat or tributary status but also its geo-political body. Since then, the Sultanate of Patani no longer appeared in geo-political maps of Southeast Asia. By the mid-19th century, relations between Bangkok and the Seven Principalities entered into an era of peaceful coexistence. Yet Bangkok, as a 0 Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian Map 10.2 1915 map showing the new monthon (administrative divisions) of southern Siam, including the monthon of Pattani. result of ever-increasing pressure from the Western colonial powers, began to implement a comprehensive restructure of its provincial administration in the Seven Principalities at the beginning of the 20th century. The objective of the provincial administrative reform was to transform Siam from a feudal and traditionally fragmented kingdom into a modern unified state with the authority of Bangkok effectively prevailing over all Siamese territories. The Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand, 1940s–1980s  The politico-administrative development of the years 1896–1907 is without doubt the key historical cause of the modern socio-political conflict between the Thai central government and the Malay Muslim leadership in southern Thailand. The 1896–1902 restructure of the Seven Principalities transformed these semi-tributary polities into integral, inner provinces of the kingdom with the raja/ruler-governors losing what remained of their executive and administrative powers as well as their rulership status. Three rulers, Tani, Sai and Legeh (Ra-ngae), found the new administrative order especially unacceptable. Under the leadership of Tengku Abdul Kadir, the newly-appointed ruler of Tani, the three rulers sought the intervention of Great Britain through the British colonial regime in Malaya to release them from the political clutches of Bangkok. Such intervention, however, never materialized. The 1901–1902 uprising of the jet huamuang was swiftly and firmly put down with the arrest of the ruler of Tani who was kept under house...