1. Kabot Phuwiset:
The Millenarian Rebellion in the
Southern Part of Thailand

2. Rebellion led by a self-proclaimed psychic
in Southern Thailand
 Ratanakosin Year (R.S.) 128 31st July
 Ratanakosin Year (R.S.)130 2nd – 3rd September
→ In R.S.120, the regulation concerning the governance of 7 provinces
was enforced
→ The central government intervened in local governance
→ The regulation bred discontent among the local governors who ruled
the their own province by themselves.

3. 31st July R.S.128〈Rebellion 〉
 The Leader of Rebellion ⇒ Haji(Islamic Leader)
Haji Bhra, Haji Wanti etc.
Deceive people
Preaching Knowledge into a belief
Islamic Doctrine of Magic
that Haji had
supernatural power
 Each Haji held rallies against the central government and collected rebels
 After collecting a number of rebels, Hajis drilled them to fight with arms
against the central government.

4. 31st July R.S.128
Rebellion led by a self-proclaimed psychic
 Local government officials and police officers found that Haji
Bhra and about 50 rebels held a rally with arms.
⇒ The first clash after the enforcement of the regulation of
R.S.120,
⇒Before it became serious riot, rebels were suppressed
 They were armed with knives and swords, but they didn’t have
modern weapons like a gun.
 Most of the government officilals got injured
 Haji Bhra also got injured and was arrested
⇒Revealed that he did not have supernatural power
⇒The claim that the Haji had supernatural power is merely to
agitate the masses

5. Punishment of Rebels
 Punishment of Haji Bhra
 If the Haji, a Islamic leader, were punished severely in Pattani, it
would have a bad influence on the local Muslim society…
 King Rama V took the transferring Haji to Pattani in consideration.
 Haji Bhra was transferred to Songkhla and judged there.
⇒He was sentenced 13 years to imprisonment.
 Haji Bhra was inprisoned in Bangkok, while other rebels were jailed in
Nakhong Si Thammarat.

6. After Rebellion in R.S.128
 Some similar cases happened in the southern Thailand
 In Yara, Twan Sete who was a self-proclaimed psychic held a rally
with about 300 people
 In Nonchick, Haji Yuso, Haji Umah, Saniporchy instigated people to
 The central government was concerned that the authority in Pattani was
incapable of governance
 An officer who was sent by the central government found that Twan
Sete held a rally and arrested them.
⇒ Local officers could not detect it
 The local authority could not identify the factors of the rebellions
⇒ A rebellion broke out again in R.S.130.

7. Rebellion in R.S.130
Rebellion led by Self-proclaimed Psychic
 2nd September
About 70 rebels burned down the office and official
residence of Yaha District in Yala Province.
 3rd September
About 100 rebels armed with guns and swords attacked
the officers of Tina Village in Yaha.
⇒Since R.S.120, it was the first case that the public
office and officers were attacked violently in the
southern part of Thailand

8. Features of Rebellion in R.S.130
1. Use of Modern Arms
The rebels had about 60 guns
70~100 rebels
2. A Definite Target = Office, Officials Residence, and Officers
 Reflected the public’s discontent with the officers in the
area.
 It was also considered as the resistance against the
central government.
3. Local officers ran away
4. Could not arrest the rebels at all
 The local authority was incapable of governing the area

9. Support of Pi Bun
 The rebels became greater and stronger
 Some revels of Pi Bun group, who were imprisoned in Nakhon Si
Thammarat, escaped and supported the rebellion.
 People who supported the rebellion increased in the neighbor
provinces like Songkhla, Sai Buri.

10. Political Factors
 Discontent with the central government on the governance reform of
R.S.120
 Local governors and officials lost their vested rights and interests
 Local officer were incapable of governing the area
 No action was taken to prevent the rebellion

11. Economical Factors
 Recession
 1907～1910 Economy was in recession
 1903～1910 Disasters, for
example, flooding, drought, epidemic, happened frequently
 Discontent on tax reform
The central government …
 began to collect all taxes and allocate them.
⇒ The local governors were discontented.
 increased taxes
 changed monetary system from the silver standard to gold standard
⇒it caused a steep fall of price of agricultural products
 changed currency for taxes from Atta to Satarn
⇒many of people didn’t have Satarn yet and became poorer and
poorer

12. Social Factors
 Most of the people in the southern border provinces = Malays, Muslims
 The central government sent officers who could speak Malay and
understood Islamic culture, however they originally had religious
prejudice.
 Officers and citizens hated each other
 The Islamic leaders abused the religion to agitate people against the
government
 The local people originally had a belief in magic
 At that time crimes were many and the society was unstable
⇒People tended to believe more in magic
 Consequently the public believed that the rebellion leaders had
supernatural power

13. Summary
 The rebellion from R.S.128 to R.S.130 was fomented by
economical factors and social factors, however its main factors
were the governance reform .
 The beginning of the consecutive rebellions was the
antigovernment conspiracy in R.S.121, and the rebellions led by
self-proclaimed psychics were
 Abdul Kadir, Sultan of Pattani, was the leader behind the
scene, which was testified by one of the rebels