History Of Southern Provinces

[huahinheartbreak]

I am interested in learning the political history of the southern provinces. I read somewhere

that they were incorporated into Thailand in 1902. How did this happen, if its the truth? I unsuccessfully googled.

[Rinrada]

Wee bit of Info from back in the Jolly old days of the Empire...wot

....I say not so heavy on the angosturas.....thats a good chap..

Northern Malay States and Siam

All started when British and French pressures forced Siam to give up its territorial claims on Indochina and the Malay Peninsula under the heading of the " Burney Treaty"and later the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909.

Prior to the late 19th century, the British East India Company was only interested in trading and tried as much as possible to stay away from Malay politics.

However, Siam influence in northern Malay states, especially Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan and Pattani was preventing the Company from trading in peace.

Therefore, in 1826, the British through the Company signed a secret treaty known today as the Burney Treaty with the king of Siam.

The four Malay states were not present during the signing of the agreement.

In that treaty, British acknowledged Siamese sovereignty over all those states.

In return, Siam accepted British ownership of Penang and Province Wellesley and allowed the Company to trade in Terengganu and Kelantan unimpeded.

Almost a hundred years later, a new treaty now known as Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 or Bangkok Treaty of 1909 was signed between the two powers.

In the new agreement, Siam agreed to give up claim over Kedah, Perlis, Terengganu and Kelantan while Pattani remains as Siamese territory.

Perlis was previously part of Kedah but during Siamese reign, Perlis was separated from Kedah. Kedah's district of Satun however was annexed by Siam in the same agreement.

Pattani on the other hand was dissected into Pattani proper, Yala and Narathiwat after the signing of the treaty.

Though the Siamese King Chulalongkorn was reluctant to sign the treaty, increasing French pressure on the Siamese eastern border forced Siam to cooperate with the British. As with Rama IV, Chulalongkorn hoped that the British would leave Siam alone if he acceded to the British demands.

Earlier in 1893, Siam had lost Shan region of north-eastern Burma to the British.

This demarcation as stated in the agreement remains today as Malaysia-Thailand Border.

Malay rulers did not acknowledge the agreement. Regardless, the rulers were too weak to resist British influence.

In Kedah after the Bangkok Treaty, George Maxwell was posted by the British in Kedah as the sultan's advisor.

The British effectively took over economics planning and execution. Rail line was built to connect Kedah with Siam in 1912 while land reformed was introduced in 1914.

It was only in 1923 did the ruler of Kedah, Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Syah accepted a British advisor.

Perlis had similar experience. The ruler did not recognize the 1909 treaty but the British was de facto administrator of the state.

It was only in 1930 the ruler, Raja Syed Alwi recognized British presence in Perlis by admitting Meadows Frost as the first British Advisor in Perlis....and the rest is as they say...history

[timber]

Thanks for the history. Useful, interesting and makes it easier to understand the difficulty of rationalizing what is happening down south.

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks for the history lesson. Are there more?

I didn't realize the Shan State was formerly part of Siam. And the Shan peoples still try to come to Thailand!

Are there any current migrations between the three southern provinces of Thailand and northern Malaysia?

[sbk]

makes it easier to understand the difficulty of rationalizing what is happening down south.

You mean because Siam has had sovereignty since 1826?

[jdinasia]

The Kingdom of Siam exercised a loose sovereignty over the northern part of the Malay Peninsula, including the Malay Sultanates of Kedah, Kelantan, Pattani, Perlis and Terengganu, from the 16th century (see History of Thailand). In 1902, Pattani was formally annexed by Siam. Seven years later, under the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, the British colonial administration in Malaya forced the King of Siam to cede sovereignty over all of these except Pattani to Britain, while the British recognized Siamese sovereignty over Pattani, which became a monthon (region) of Siam. In 1933 the monthon was divided into the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Thailand_insurgency

[sbk]

From rinrada's post:

Siam influence in northern Malay states, especially Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan and Pattani was preventing the Company from trading in peace.

Therefore, in 1826, the British through the Company signed a secret treaty known today as the Burney Treaty with the king of Siam.

The four Malay states were not present during the signing of the agreement.

In that treaty, British acknowledged Siamese sovereignty over all those states.

In return, Siam accepted British ownership of Penang and Province Wellesley and allowed the Company to trade in Terengganu and Kelantan unimpeded.

[jdinasia]

here'sanother good article

http://www.alertnet.org/printable.htm?URL=...iles/TH_INS.htm

Muslims are a minority in Thailand, making up less than 5 percent of the country's total population of 63 million. They live mainly in the southernmost provinces that were annexed by the Thai government in 1902.

continued .....

it has a good deal of decent info

ASSIMILATION AND RESISTANCE

According to an ICG report, "Southern Thailand, Insurgency not Jihad", relations between the southern provinces and the capital during most of the last century were characterised by "harsh assimilation policies, resistance, conciliatory government gestures that were seldom properly implemented, and then an easing of tensions".

Following the annexation of the Patani sultanate at the beginning of the 20th century, the Siam (Thai) government implemented a series of administrative reforms that unseated its ruler and divided the region into three provinces. Local aristocrats were deposed and Thai-speaking officials who reported directly to Bangkok were installed.

At the end of World War II, the region's hopes of independence and then of accession to British Malaya were dashed. Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong, concerned about rising nationalism, invited Muslim leaders to participate in government and advise the king on Islamic matters.

However, Muslims did not see the new religious bureaucrats as their true representatives, and continued to view the head teachers of ponoh religious boarding schools as their de facto leaders.

In 1946, the modernist Muslim intellectual Haji Sulong, who was head of the provincial Islamic council, petitioned the government for self-rule. However, a military coup in 1947 led to his imprisonment, causing rebellion to break out across the southern provinces.

Malay resistance expanded in the 1950s, and by the late 1960s there were more than 60 armed groups operating in the south.

Following two decades of military campaigns against the insurgency waged by these groups, the government adopted a more peace-oriented political approach in the early 1980s.

It changed governance and security structures to provide Muslims with wider political participation and economic opportunities. Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, hundreds of fighters accepted amnesty offers and membership of armed organisations shrank. Violence declined significantly.

Yet, in its report on the insurgency, ICG argues that "the very success of the conciliatory approach and the resultant splitting and weakening of the major insurgent groups led to the emergence of new militant strains".

Edited September 1, 2006 by jdinasia

[jdinasia]

and yet another good article .. more history... and less speclation

http://www.thailand-travel-guide.de/thailandpattani.html

In 1902, Pattani was formally annexed by Siam, followed a 1909 Bangkok Treaty with the British recognizing it. All seven provinces were united into a monthon and incorporated into the kingdom. Later on the central government in Bangkok renamed certain localities with Thai-sounding names, as well as merging together some of the provinces. When the monthon was dissolved in 1933 three provinces remained - Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

....

good reading at the end and less speculative about PULO's ties with other organizations

[Boon Mee]

Thanks for the history lesson. Are there more?

I didn't realize the Shan State was formerly part of Siam. And the Shan peoples still try to come to Thailand!

That's one of the main reasons why Farang cannot own land in Thailand.

The Thai's are still pissed that they were made to give up the Shan states.