The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

RIWIEW ARTICLES 253
unpatriotic of me to say so, but I think all this is sheer nonsense. I feel
I am a composite Thai compared to the Thai groups living outside
Thailand. The Thai government however think I have a distorted
sense of humour.
The same applies to Wolters' Malays. But researchers, particularly
in Singapore, have started to use the terms the Tani States and the Malay
States because the Malays of the east coast were culturally distinct
from those of the west coast. The late Dr. C.A. Gibson-Hill of the
Raffles Museum in Singapore once asked me whether the Tani States
were Thai or Malay. Instead of the Tani States, he should have used
the term the Ligor States, or, to call them by their ancient status, the
Twelve Naksat Cities under the hegemony of Nakorn Sri Thammaraj.
As these cities extended from Chumporn in the north to Pahang in
the south, the answer to Gibson-Hill is the Tani States (Twelve Naksat
Cities) may or may not have been Thai, but they certainly were not
Malay in the sense that Wolters used this term. People have said that
Malaya has no histqry before the foundation of Malacca, but this
statement is not true if the history of Malaya is separated from the
history of the Malays. I cannot see how any history of the Malays in
Malaya can possibly go back beyond Malacca, but the Naksat Cities
can probably be traced back a full thousand years.
This is where the original draft ended, and with the Naksat Cities
we have completed a full circle because this paper started with them.
Here is where I should bring this long-winded thing to a close, but let
us go into orbit once more, because new evidence bas come to hand
since I started writing and there are one or two loose ends to tie up,
as well as a few glaring errors that dropped in without being invited to
correct. This will also act as a sort of recap. This part refers back to
parts I and II but not to parts III and IV. To save time and trouble I
will give the list of contents of these two parts. Reference will be based
on these sections with the page numbers given of the -relevant issues.