Si Rat Malai

Si Rat Malai สี่รัฐมาลัย
Subdivision of Thailand
← 1943–1945 →
Flag
Thai occupation zones (Si Rat Malai)   Japanese occupation zones
Historical era		World War II
•	Japan hands over the four states to Thailand	18 October 1943
•	Thailand returns annexed territories to the United Kingdom	2 September 1945
Today part of		Malaysia

Si Rat Malai (Thai: สี่รัฐมาลัย 'Four Malay States') is a former administrative division of Thailand. It included the four northern states of Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu in British Malaya annexed by the Axis-aligned Thai government after the Japanese invasion of Malaya.^[1]

The Thai authorities made Alor Setar the centre for the administration of the territory. Thailand administered the states as Syburi (ไทรบุรี), Palit (ปะลิส), Kalantan (กลันตัน) and Trangkanu (ตรังกานู) provinces^[2] from 18 October 1943 until the surrender of the Japanese at the end of the war.

History

On 14 December 1941 General Plaek Phibunsongkhram, then Prime Minister of Thailand, signed a secret agreement with the Japanese Empire and committed the Thai armed forces to participate in the planned Burma Campaign. An alliance between Thailand and Japan was formally signed on 21 December 1941.

On 25 January 1942, the Thai government, believing the Allies beaten, declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom. As a reward for entering into a military alliance with the Japanese, the latter agreed to return to Thailand the four British Malayan provinces of Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu which had been ceded to the British in 1909.

After occupation on 20 August 1943, an agreement on the surrender of the four states was signed in Bangkok, between Phibunsongkhram and the Japanese ambassador, Teiji Tonbukami. Among the conditions found in the agreement it was stated that Japan would hand over the administration of the four Malay states to Thailand within 60 days after the signature of the document.^[3]

On 18 October 1943, the four Malay states were transferred to Thailand. On the occasion Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram declared that the citizens of the annexed states were to be granted equal treatment to the inhabitants of other parts of Thailand.^[4] The Japanese authorities, however, retained a great degree of control. Japanese troops and Kempeitai continued to be stationed in the four states. Rail services would be run by Thai officers only in Kelantan, while the rail links in Kedah and Perlis would remain in Japanese hands. The Japanese also had the full control of the telegraph, post and telephone services over the nominally Thai territories.^[5]

Thailand was still allied with Japan when the war ended, but the United States proposed a solution. In 1946 Thailand agreed to hand back the territories occupied during Japanese presence in the country as the price for admission to the United Nations, consequently all wartime claims against Siam were dropped and the country received a substantial package of American aid.^[6] On 1 April 1946 the former Thai-occupied states joined the Malayan Union.

Administration

1942 Japanese map of the Malay Peninsula.

The Thai administrative service in the northern Malay states was relatively small and the officers were more concentrated in carrying out military and police duties, and foreign relations. The administrative service was carried out by civil servants who were under military supervision.

Kedah

Japanese Governors

• 1941 - Mar 1942 Ojama
• Mar 1942 - Oct 1943 Sukegawa Seiji (Seichi)

Thai Military Commissioner

• Oct 1943 - 1945? Pramote Chongcharoen

Thai General-commissioners

Administering Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu:^[7]

• 20 August 1943 - Oct 1943 Kamol Saraphaisariddhikan Chotikasathian
• Oct 1943 - 1945? Chierlah Kamol Sribhaasairadhikavan Josikasarthien

Kelantan

Japanese Governors

• 1941 - 1943 Yasushi Sunakawan
• 1943 - 20 August 1943 Kikura Fujisawa

Thai Military Commissioners

• 1943 - 1944 Charu Chaichan
• 1944 - 1945 Tharin Rawang Phu

Terengganu

Japanese Governors

• Dec 1941 - 18 March 1942 ....
• 18 March 1942 - Jul 1943 Manabu Kuji

Thai Military Commissioner

• 20 August 1943 - Aug 1945 Prayoon Ratanakit

Perlis

Japanese Governors

• 1941 - 1942 Ohyama Kikancho
• Mar 1942 - 20 August 1943 Sukegawa Seiji (Osagawa)

Thai Military Commissioner

• 20 August 1943 - 8 September 1945 Charn Na Song Khram

See also

• Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909
• Japanese occupation of Malaya
• Thailand in World War II

References

1. The Deseret News - Jul 5, 1943
2. Annexed territories (in Thai)
3. Saiburi Samuk
4. Paul H. Kratoska, The Japanese Occupation of Malaya: A Social and Economic History. p. 88
5. Prof. Madya Dr. Mohd. Isa Othman The Second World War and the Japanese Invasion of Kedah
6. David Porter Chandler & David Joel Steinberg eds. In Search of Southeast Asia: A Modern History. p. 388
7. Malay States

External links

• Malaysia - Thailand Boundary
• The Land Boundaries of Indochina: Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
• Maps of Malaya

Coordinates: 6°30′N 100°30′E / 6.500°N 100.500°E