Patani Darulsallam

Pattani (in Malay, Patani, also sometimes Patani Raya, or "Greater Patani") is a term that has been used to describe a region in South Thailand consisting of the province of Patani proper along with the neighbouring Yala (Jala),Narathiwat (Menara), parts of Songkhla (Singgora), and Satun (Setul), and much of the northern part of modern Malaysia. Historically similar to many smaller Malay kingdoms such as Singgora (Songkhla) and Ligor (Nakhon Si Thammarat) and Lingga (near Surat Thani), they were first required to pay tribute then conquered by the Ayutthaya, as were non-Malay kingdoms like Lanna and Sukhothai. Pattani was not the last of these kingdoms to be subjugated and absorbed. A separatist movement has sought the establishment of a Malay and Islamic state, Patani Darussalam, encompassing these three provinces. This campaign has taken a violent turn in recent years, prompting a state of insurgency across South Thailand and the imposition of martial law.

Pattani's golden age was during the reign of its four successive queens from 1584, known as Raja Hijau (The Green Queen), Raja Biru (The Blue Queen), Raja Ungu (The Purple Queen) and Raja Kuning (The Yellow Queen), where the kingdom's economic and military strength was greatly increased to the point that it was able to fight off four major Siamese invasions with the help of the eastern Malay kingdom of Pahang and the southern MalaySultanate of Johore.

You can watch them in The Queens of Langkasuka the movie, which went into production in 2005, was a first called Queens of Pattani, but the name was changed to avoid political connections to the insurgency and Pattani separatism, and to tie the story in with the legend of Langkasuka.

On 8 December 1941, during the WW2, the Japanese tried to invade Thailand and crossed Pattani to invade British Malaya. The Thai government later became a reluctant ally of Japan by the promise of helping Thailand take more than 50% 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 regime, which forced them to give up their own language and culture.
Mahyuddin assisted the British by launching a later fell guerrilla 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 but some thing that they broke the promises and allowed continued Thai rule over Pattani, determined to keep Thailand stable as a counterweight to the communist insurgency then being fought in Malaya. This caused the formation of several insurgent groups seeking the independence of Pattani.

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 Tengku Mahmud who wanted to reestablish the Pattanese Sultanate (being a prince himself).
Today, the goals and ideas of Haji Sulong Tokmina is still carried on by minor resistance groups interested in creating an Islamic republic. After the war though, hopes of any independent republic in Pattani was quickly dashed by the Anglos and the Thais.

Weekly reports throughout the recent years show an unpleasant activity by extremists and killings of soldiers, supposed rebels and civilians are quite common. Roadblocks everywhere across the 3 southernmost Thai provinces are a common sight. Armored military vehicles have vanished recently from the public eyes on the roads and within the cities and villages.

The insurgency is probably not caused by the lack of political representation among the Muslim population. By the late 1990s, Muslims were holding unprecedentedly senior posts in Thai politics, for example with Wan Muhammad Nor Matha (a Malay Muslim from Yala) serving as Chairman of Parliament from 1996 to 2001 and later Interior Minister during the first Thaksin government. Thaksin’s first government (2001–2005) also saw 14 Muslim MPs and several Muslim senators. Muslims dominated provincial legislative assemblies in the border provinces, and several southern municipalities had Muslim mayors. Muslims were able to voice their political grievances more openly and enjoy a much greater degree of religious freedom. However, in the face of growing violence during 2004 and 2005, Muslim politicians and leaders remained silent, thus eroding their political legitimacy and support. This cost them dearly. In the 2005 general election, all but one of the eleven incumbent Muslim MPs who stood for election were voted out of office.

Sad to see this region gone to the dogs but you could always lay the blame squarely on Thaksin's feet.A notherner himself, he didn't know much about southern region except what had been told to him by his area Commanders.The place then was rife with all sorts of "forbidden fruits" and all activities were rampantly carried out but all the races lived in harmony.It was a Laisse-Faire economy.The Army Command had their hands full in all the cookies jars.This was the only border that Thailand is poorer than.This was the only border where big money could be made, albeit illegally and not really violent until 2oo4.

The SinCity of the south, Hatyai suffers as a result with a spate of bombings and terrorism activities scaring away tourists from Malaysia and Singapore, who were the real paymasters of their southern economy.