No, we face issues head on, albeit with political finesse and diplomatic panache only an old, socially cohesive race could muster. We couldn’t afford to beat around bushes and circumvent issues and hope the problems will go away. Our survival as a people throughout 600 years of T’ai aggression was dependent on our capacity to meet these attacks head on, blow for blow, though at times we were outnumbered 5 to 1 on the battlefield. Our 1,500 year history (from the era of the Ch’ih-tu and Langkasuka kingdoms) are dotted with epic battles for survival, with Kelantan-Patani warriors recorded in the historical annals of Burma, Siam, Cambodia, Champa, Vietnam and all the way down the Malay Peninsula and across to Java, Makasar and beyond. Kelantan extricated itself in the nick of time in 1909. Our other half, the old Malay kingdom of Patani, was overrun and annexed in 1902, and today three million Malays there simmer under Thai occupation. We are simpler, more straightforward, more robust, with a clarity of thought and tenacity of purpose reflective of our history and existence as a frontline state against T’ai Buddhist expansionism. And we do not partake in gurindam and puisi to express our thoughts. We Kelantanese are not amenable to beating around bushes.
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