ขบถ รฺศฺ๑๒๑ เตช บุนนาค มูลนิธิโครงการตำรา สังคมศาสตร์และมนุษยศาสตร์ กรุงเทพมหานคร ๒๕๒๔
My wife is reading this (above). I'm not sure what moved her to pick it up. It deals with a charismatic regional revolt in the Northeast that occurred about 10 years before Pattani was administratively made into a Monthon, the event that seems to define the beginning of Siamese bad faith in the current historiography of the South. The Northeastern rebellion was motivated by very similar sentiments of usurpation of local authority and local resources. Most academic professionals of Thailand know this stuff in more nuance and detail than is presented in this little book. But it is worth remembering for two reasons. First, Pattani's experience of Thai officialdom, not in 1902 and not since, is really very little different than that of the rest of the old principalities from outside of the Chaopraya basin (and maybe some of those), all the way down to the corruption and arbitrariness of the governing class. And 'autonomy' as an alternative, particularly a kind of nation/province/tambon/municipality structure in which each layer has separately elected entities and independent access to taxation and fees, can't be evaluated simply in terms of the South. Pattani is just a domino, to resurrect an unfortunate image, in regards to who might want autonomy of that sort in Thailand even today. Professionals know that too, or should. That is why, however, this glib talk of recommending local control in Pattani/Yala/Narathiwat is just that. The Thai Army has said 'no' several different times, from several different mouths. They mean it. This isn't a tactical call on their part; it goes to the heart of how they understand Thailand. They see 1892 as not that long ago; they still mourn the loss of Kelantan, the Shan States, and the cross Mea Khong provinces (including Khao Phra Wihaan) in Laos and Cambodia. They aren't about to let that happen in Pattani and risk the North and Northeast wanting some of it for themselves. Not that one might not wish it otherwise and even campaign in print and in person that it be otherwise. But let's us at least momentarily here remind ourselves that such notions relate to a much bigger question than how to relate to Malay Muslims.
Download News Feb 8 Feb 14 2010
