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 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.