Pattani
Former Malay sultanate (repelled 4 Siamese invasions, fell 1902)—7,683 dead since 2004, BRN runs shadow state in schools and mosques, 69.8% Muslim primary education only.
Pattani was a sultanate before it became a province. The Sultanate of Patani flourished under Raja Hijau—the Green Queen—from 1584, growing powerful enough to repel four Siamese invasions. Chinese merchants had made it a trade hub; Portuguese arrived in 1516, Japanese in 1592, Dutch in 1602, English in 1612. This was a cosmopolitan Malay kingdom controlling the peninsula's eastern coast, its power derived from commerce rather than conquest.
Siam conquered what it could not trade with. Formal incorporation came in 1902, ratified by the 1909 Anglo-Siamese Treaty that drew the modern border between Thailand and British Malaya. The sultanate became three provinces—Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat—administered by Buddhist officials in a Malay Muslim territory. The cultural substrate never accepted the political overlay. Insurgency simmered from 1948, exploded in 2004, and has killed 7,683 people with 14,415 injured through January 2025.
The Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) now operates a shadow state, recruiting youth in schools, preaching in mosques, collecting local taxes—out-administering the Thai state in districts where 69.8% of Muslims have only primary education compared to 49.6% of Buddhists. Poverty fell from 40% in 2000 to 18% in 2004, but development didn't bring loyalty. Pattani demonstrates that states can annex territory without absorbing populations—the conquered identity persists like an immune response that never resolves.