Patani

Patani (in Malay

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

, or Pattani, (derived from Jawi: ڤتنا), also sometimes Patani Raya, or "Greater Patani") is a term that has been used to describe a region comprising the southern Thai

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 provinces of Pattani

Pattani Province

Pattani is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Narathiwat, Yala and Songkhla.-Geography:...

, Yala

Yala Province

Yala is the southernmost province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwat. Yala is the only land-locked province in the south of Thailand...

 (Jala), Narathiwat

Narathiwat Province

Narathiwat is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Yala and Pattani. To the south it borders the Malaysian state of Kelantan. The southern railway line ends in this province that is one of the nation’s five provinces that borders Malaysia. The name of this...

 (Menara), and parts of Songkhla

Songkhla Province

Songkhla is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Satun, Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani and Yala. To the south it borders Kedah and Perlis of Malaysia....

 (Singgora), together with much of the northern part of modern peninsular Malaysia.

Patani is historically similar to sultanates such as Singgora (Songkhla

Songkhla

Songkhla is a city in the Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. As of 2006 it had a population of 75,048...

), Ligor (Nakhon Si Thammarat

Nakhon Si Thammarat

Nakhon Si Thammarat is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Nakhon Si Thammarat Province and the Nakhon Si Thammarat district. It is about south of Bangkok, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. The city was the administrative center of southern Thailand during most of its history. ...

), and Lingga (near Surat Thani

Surat Thani

Surat Thani is a city in Amphoe Mueang Surat Thani, Surat Thani Province, southern Thailand. It is the capital of the province Surat Thani. The city has a population of 128,179 , and an area of 68.97 square kilometers. The city's population density is 1,858.47 inhabitants per km².Suran Thani is...

): Patani was a semi-independent Malay sultanate paying tribute to the Siamese

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 kingdoms of Sukhothai

Sukhothai kingdom

The Sukhothai Kingdom ) was an early kingdom in the area around the city Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. The Kingdom existed from 1238 till 1438...

 and Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya kingdom

Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...

. After Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese in 1767, the Sultanate of Patani gained full independence, but under King Rama I

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke

Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Chakri Borommanat Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke , posthumously titled "the Great", or Rama I , was the founder and the first monarch of the reigning House of Chakri of Siam . He ascended the throne in 1782, after defeating a rebellion which had deposed King...

, it again came under Siam's control.

A modern separatist

Separatism

Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...

 movement has sought the establishment of a Malay Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic state, Patani Darussalam, encompassing the three southern Thai provinces. This campaign has taken a violent turn in recent years, resulting in an insurgency

South Thailand insurgency

An ethnic separatist insurgency is taking place in Southern Thailand, predominantly in the Malay Pattani region, made up of the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. Violence has increasingly spilling over into other provinces...

 across southern Thailand and the imposition of martial law

Martial law

Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...

.

Early history

The area was home to the Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

-Buddhist kingdom of Langkasuka

Langkasuka

Langkasuka was an ancient Hindu Malay kingdom located in the Malay Peninsula...

 as early as the second century, as accounts from Chinese

Chinese people

The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 travelers attest. Langkasuka reached its peak in the sixth and seventh centuries, and then declined as a major trade center. Pattani subsequently became part of the Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

-Buddhist Empire of Srivijaya

Srivijaya

Srivijaya was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6...

, a maritime confederation based in Palembang

Palembang

Palembang is the capital city of the South Sumatra province in Indonesia. Palembang is one of the oldest cities in Indonesia, and has a history of being a capital of a maritime empire. Located on the Musi River banks on the east coast of southern Sumatra island, it has an area of 400.61 square...

, which spanned the seventh to the thirteenth centuries. Regional influence during these early centuries also came from the developing Khmer, Siamese and Malay cultures.

The founding of the Islamic kingdom of Patani is thought to have been around the mid-13th century, with folklore suggesting it was named after an exclamation made by Sultan Ismail Shah, "Pantai Ini!" ("This beach" in the local Malay language

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

). However, some think it was the same country known to the Chinese as Pan Pan

Pan Pan

Pan Pan is a lost small Hindu Kingdom believed to have existed around 3rd-7th Century CE., somewhere in Kelantan or Terengganu, Malaysia. Little is known about this kingdom. The kingdom was later conquered by Srivijaya under the leadership of Dharmasetu before 775 CE...

.

Siamese Rule

Patani came under Thai

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 rule briefly during the Sukhothai period

Sukhothai kingdom

The Sukhothai Kingdom ) was an early kingdom in the area around the city Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. The Kingdom existed from 1238 till 1438...

, and more extensively during the later Ayuthaya period.

In 1791 and 1808, there were rebellions within Pattani against Thai rule, following which Pattani was divided into 7 largely autonomous states (Mueang

Mueang

Mueang were historical semi-independent city-states or principalities in present-day Thailand, Laos, parts of northern Vietnam and the Shan State of Myanmar. Smaller Mueang were subordinate to more powerful neighboring Mueang, which in turn were subordinate to the central king, as described in...

): Pattani, Nongchik, Saiburi (Teluban), Yala (Jala), Yaring (Jambu), Ra-ngae (Legeh) and Raman. All were ruled by the King of Ligor

Nakhon Si Thammarat kingdom

Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom was one of the major constituent city states of the Siamese kingdoms of Sukhothai and later Ayutthaya and controlled a big part of the Malay peninsula...

.

After the British had taken a large part of southern Thailand in 1909, Great Britain and Thailand signed the Bangkok Treaty of 1909. The British recognised Thailand's sovereignty over Pattani, and, in return, Thailand gave up a territory called Kelantan

Kelantan

Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu. The Arabic honorific of the state is Darul Naim, ....

 to the British. All seven mueang were reunited into a monthon

Monthon

A monthon |]], literally "circle") was a country subdivision of Thailand in the beginning of the 20th century. The Thai word 'monthon' is a translation of the word Mandala. These were created as a part of the thesaphiban bureaucratic administrative system, introduced by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab...

 and incorporated into the kingdom. Later, the central government in Bangkok renamed certain localities with Thai versions of their names and merged some of the mueang.

When the monthon system was dissolved in 1933, three provinces remained: Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

Greater Malay Patani state

On 8 December 1941, during the Second World War, the Japanese tried to invade Thailand, and crossed Pattani to invade British Malaya

British Malaya

British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...

. The Thai government later became an active ally of Japan by promising to help Thailand take more than half of her territory back from the British and the French. Tengku Mahmud Mahyuddin, a prominent Pattani leader and the son of the last Raja of Pattani, allied himself with the British in the hopes that Pattani would be granted independence after an Allied victory. His main support came from ethnic Malays displeased by the nationalistic policies of the Phibun

Plaek Pibulsonggram

Field Marshal Plaek Pibunsongkhram , often known as Phibun Songkhram or simply Phibun in English, was Prime Minister and virtual military dictator of Thailand from 1938 to 1944 and 1948 to 1957.- Early years :...

 regime, which forced them to give up their own language and culture.

Mahyuddin assisted the British by launching guerrilla

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

 attacks against the Japanese. In 1945, a petition by Malay leaders led by Tengku Abdul Jalal demanded that Britain guarantee independence for the southernmost provinces of Thailand. At the war's end, the Greater Malay Pattani State (Negara Melayu Patani Raya) flag did fly briefly in Pattani. However, since the British had no power over Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, the Thai continued to rule over Pattani, while the British kept Thailand stable as a counterweight to the communist insurgency in Malaya. This led to the formation of several insurgent groups seeking the independence of Pattani.

Resistance movements in Patani

During World War II, along with the Greater Patani Malay Movement, led by Tengku Mahmud Mahyuddin, another resistance force under the leadership of Islamic scholar Haji Sulong Tokmina also fought against the Japanese. Their stated goal was to create an Islamic republic in Patani, which frequently put it at odds with Prince Tengku Mahmud who wanted to reestablish the Pattanese Sultanate.

Today, the goals and ideas of Haji Sulong Tokmina are still carried on by minor resistance groups interested in creating an Islamic republic. After the war, though, British and Thai policies essentially removed the possibility of an independent republic in Pattani.

Current insurgency

Patani separatist groups, most notably the Patani United Liberation Organization

Patani United Liberation Organization

The Patani United Liberation Organization or PULO is one of the active separatist movements calling for a free and independent Patani...

 (PULO), began to use violent tactics in 2001. There have been suggestions of links between PULO and foreign Islamist groups, such as al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...

 and Jemaah Islamiyah

Jemaah Islamiyah

Jemaah Islamiah , is a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization dedicated to the establishment of a Daulah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and Brunei...

. A number of Pattani Muslims are reported to have received training at al-Qaeda centres in Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, and the Pattani insurgents have forged links with groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front

Moro Islamic Liberation Front

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is an Islamist group located in the southern Philippines. It is one of two Islamic militant groups, the other being the Abu Sayyaf, that are fighting against Government of the Philippines...

 in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 and the Free Aceh Movement

Free Aceh Movement

The Free Aceh Movement , also known as the Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front , was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra from Indonesia. GAM fought against Indonesian government forces in the Aceh Insurgency from 1976 to 2005, costing over 15,000 lives...

 (GAM) in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

.

Estimates of rebel strength vary widely from only 500 to more than 15,000. Weekly reports throughout recent years show an unpleasant activity by extremists, and killings of soldiers, supposed rebels and civilians are quite common. Roadblocks are a common sight everywhere across the three southernmost Thai provinces. Armored military vehicles have vanished in public on the roads and within the cities and villages.