Daljit Singh argues that the internal conflicts in the region were often the legacy of Western colonialism, incomplete or unsuccessful nation building, and/or the political and socioeconomic marginalization of minorities.36 He contends that the borders of ASEAN countries were drawn by the colonial powers, dividing geographic areas based on their own interests and spheres of influence and leaving many ethnic or religious minorities on the “wrong side” of the border, cutting them off from their compatriots. For example, the Pattani Muslim minority in Thailand was segregated from their Malay-Muslim brothers in Malaysia as a result of a border agreement between Britain and Siam (now Thailand), which placed this community in two separate states. Identifying more as Malay than Thai, the Pattani Malays found it hard to integrate into the Thai system and society, a situation that eventually spawned bloody uprisings in the southern Thai province.