Patani Sultanate; Struggle For Independence In The Triangle of Siam, Britain And France
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31436/ijrcs.v8i2.408Keywords:
Patani Sultanate, Malay History, Southern Thailand, Anglo-Siam and French conflictAbstract
This article examines the Patani Sultanate’s struggle for independence within the complex geopolitical triangle formed by Siam, Britain, and France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While existing scholarship has largely focused on bilateral colonial relations in Southeast Asia, this study addresses a gap in understanding how competing Western imperial pressures simultaneously shaped local autonomy and indigenous resistance. The research demonstrates that Siam’s annexation of Patani in 1902 was not solely a product of Siamese expansionism, but rather a direct consequence of Anglo-French competition for regional influence. Through the analysis of archival materials from Singapore, British colonial accounts, and contemporary sources, this article reveals how the Anglo-French Declaration of 1896 and the Anglo-Siamese Secret Convention of 1897 fundamentally altered the power dynamics that had granted Patani significant internal autonomy despite Siamese rule since 1785. This article contributes to Southeast Asian historiography by illuminating how local Malay resistance under Tengku Abdul Kadir intersected with great power diplomacy to reshape the Malay-Muslim political identity in Southern Thailand. This multilayered analysis offers new insights into how colonial rivalries, rather than outright colonisation, determined the fate of semi-autonomous sultanates in the region.
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