Legacy of Thai nation-state building
Looking back at the handling of the Malay Muslim South by past Thai governments, it is clear that the methods and strategies employed have been swayed by political expediencies. Yet this is not a modern phenomenon; it has long been the case with the South of Thailand. Looking back a hundred years, unable to resist the pressure from Great Britain to rule over the Malay states, Siam, in 1909, finally decided to cede the four Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Trengganu, and Perlis to Britain. In return, the British acknowledged Thai sovereignty over Patani and Satun. Earlier Siam had already initiated the administrative reform movement of the whole kingdom. The centralization of the Thai kingdom came with the idea of a Thai nation-state in which all ethnic differences were erased. After that, the subjects of Lao, Cambodian, and Malay ethnicities in the former tributary states were all labeled Thai. Earlier in 1901, Siam had ignored the ethnic and cultural differences between the inner provinces and the seven Malay states and changed their collective names to that of the Area of the Seven Provinces [Boriwen Chet Huamuang]. They were no longer either autonomous or dependent states but provinces under the direct rule of the government in Bangkok. Yet, in 1902, the raja of Patani resisted giving over to Bangkok what he felt was his rightful and traditional power. In a heavy-handed move, he was arrested and swiftly incarcerated in Phitsanulok, a Northern Province; this was done to douse any feelings of uprising in other Malay states.