Successive Thai governments have tinkered with numerous policies aimed at integrating and assimilating the Muslims. By the 1960s, the Thai government embarked on the road to development following advice and funding from the World Bank. At the same time, political separatism became an accepted norm among many Malay Muslims in the deep South. The government introduced development policies aimed at raising the social and economic conditions of the Malay Muslims, hoping that they would be convinced of the Thai government’s good intentions. Consequently, the national development policy became a divisive issue within Malay Muslim society. Modernity benefited some but it also weakened the social values and cultural institutions that had long served as pillars to resist the Bangkok government’s penetration into Malay Muslim society. Thus, there was a radicalization of the pondok that turned out to be a new contending ground between the Thai state and the Malay Muslim identity. The resistance this time by some religious leaders and younger Muslim activists led to the emergence of violent separatist organizations rallying under the banner of radical Islamic principles. Many armed organizations and fronts such as Barisan Nasional Pembebasan Patani, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) and the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) sprang up, and the politics of the Islamic community were no longer domestic in the traditional sense, but became internationalized.