Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Muslim Malay or Patani Malay nationalism refers to the ideology or sentiment of those movements among Muslim Malays in southern Thailand which seek greater autonomy or independence from Thailand. Patani or Muslim Malays currently comprise about 2 percent of the total population of predominantly Buddhist Thailand, but they constitute approximately 80 percent of the population in the three southern provinces bordering Malaysia. These provinces were once part of the former kingdom of Patani, a then-independent state that for centuries maintained fluctuating degrees of autonomy in a tributary relationship with Siam. Patani was gradually and forcibly incorporated into Siam (renamed Thailand in 1939) beginning in the early nineteenth century against the will of its leaders and without the consent of its people. Since then, frequent and recurring attempts on the part of Malays to challenge Thai rule have posed a persistent threat to Thailand's claim to its current territory. In the sixteenth century the kingdom of Siam expanded southward into Patani, deploying its navy and army to control the peninsula's resources. Though at this time the kingdom of Patani was one of the largest and most important in the peninsula, it was relatively weaker than its expanding neighbor and ultimately, along with other Malay states, Patani entered into a tributary relationship in which it became a vassal ... log in or subscribe to read full text