A Glance At Patani
(from the Patani Malay Human Rights Organization)

The nearly 2 million inhabitants of the presently Southern five Malay speaking provinces of southern Thailand, embraced Islam during the region's changing of ages leaving behind the their former ancient Hindu-Buddhist sphere of Langkasuka empire since the first century AD to form a new nation called 'Malay Kingdom of Patani' during 1350 AD with Islam as new faith

As Islam began to establish under Patani's second king, Patani gradually flourished especially during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But during its political decline in the eighteenth century, Patani was subdued by Siam (later called Thailand) in 1786 after it had won a war against Burma. Patani became a Siamese tributary state with their state affairs run by an ethnic Thai-Buddhist nation, the ethnic Malays of Patani again flourished their Islamic identity and, until the 19th century, it was well-known as the cradle of Islam in Southeast Asia.

But the situation begun to worsen as Siam incorporated Patani as part of its kingdom 1902, the Patani has since then been relentlessly struggling against Siamese imperialism to the present day. Siam brutalises Patani in all forms, politically, culturally and economically.

Disrespectfully towards the Islamic Malay tolerant way of life of Patani people, Siam forcefully promulgated its colonial policy aiming to assimilate the Patanis and abandon their own origin. From 1921 onwards the Patanis were obliged to attend Siamese schools in learning Thai language and history, culture and kingship. Without doubt, Buddhist influence was part of the campaign. It was unsuccessful though, as no matter how harshly the policies were imposed upon them, the Islamic Malay culture remained at an all-time high among the Patanis. But after 1932, a period in which Siam itself changed from an absolute monarchy system to a constitutional one and Siam was renamed as Thailand, from loosely controlled units to a powerful centralised one, the Patanis were since then victimised even further as the national government became mostly controlled by the military, promoting Thai nationalism, especially after World War II. Due to these situations, a prominent religious leader named Haji Sulong proposed a seven-point self-rule plan to safeguard Patani rights and identity, but the Thais responded to his sincere intention with crushing and killing. This made the Patanis stage uprisings from time to time since 1948 that led to the forming of armed struggle groups in 1960s as a defensive matter.

With suffering in silence on the one hand and preserving Malay Islamic culture on the other, the Patanis continue to fight on. With the end of the cold war and the emergence of the globalisation era during the 1980s and 1990s the Thai elites engaged in immorally political capitalism which was, in fact, what brought a downturn to their nation as can be seen to the present day. The Patanis prefer the sustainable and economical Islamic way of life. This led the Thais to wrongly come to the conclusion that the Patanis were against prosperity. Therefore the new anti Thai sentiment among the Patanis grows gradually and peacefully but are again brutalised by the all-time violent mentality of the Thais.