A note on Sai
W. Linehan’s brief note (1947) corrects a misattribution regarding the historical territory of Sai in Patani and clarifies the Malay distinction between Sai and Siam.
Summary
Linehan responds to earlier references by V. B. C. Baker and Anker Rentse, who had credited his “History of Pahang” (1936) with a mention of Sai that does not exist in that work (p. 104). He further argues that Baker’s conjecture—that the Malay term orang Siam referred to “the men of Sai”—is incorrect, since the Malays consistently distinguished Sai (a specific territory within Siam) from Siam (the country as a whole).
Linehan nonetheless concedes that Baker was likely right in suggesting that miners from Sai, entering Pahang via the Galas river and Pulai, played a significant role in developing gold-fields in Ulu Pahang. He supports this with the place-name Gua Sai (“the Cave of Sai”) in the Mukim of Gua, near the gold-field of the river Tui (p. 104). The note closes with a brief historical note that Sai was once part of the kingdom of Patani and became a separate petty state following the 1830–1831 rebellion against Siam.