Monthon Pattani Scout Flag

15 of the Monthon had a flag of the regional troop of the scouts, which are interesting since they first use symbols which later got used in the provincial seals. As the first of these flags I now feature the one of Monthon Pattani, the administrative entity which covered the area of the three southernmost muslim provinces - though at that times it still were four provinces: Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala and Saiburi.

Quoting the description of this flag from the book ธงไทย เล่ม ๑ (Thai flags volume 1)

พื้นธงสีเขียวใบไม้ ขอบสีเหลือง กลางธงมีรูปปืนนางพญาตานี ซึ่งเป็นปืนที่พระยาตานีนำมาถวายโดยความจงรักภักดีต่อพระมหากษัตริย์ในราชวงศ์จักรี ทั้งนี้เพื่อให้ลูกเสือในมณฑลนั้นได้ระลึกถึงความจงรักภักดีของพระยาตานีไว้เป็นตัวอย่างอยู่เสมอ พระบาทสมเด็จพระมงกุฎเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัวได้พระราชทานเมื่อวันที่ ๑๓ มิถุนายน พ.ศ. ๒๔๕๘ ในคราวเสด็จพระราชดำเนินประพาสปักษ์ใต้

The ground of the flag is leaf green, the border yellow. In the middle is a picture of the cannon Phaya Tani, which is the cannon the ruler of Tani presented for show allegiance with the great King of the Chakri dynasty. Thus the scouts of this monthon can keep the memory of the loyalty the ruler of Tani as a constant example. King Rama VI (Vajiravudh) give on January 13 1916 on occasion of a royal journey to southern Thailand.

The emblems of the provinces were announced in the Royal Gazette in in 2004, though this wasn't on the original adoption of these emblems. Nevertheless, the short description of the Pattani emblem reads as follows.

รูปปืนใหญ่ หมายถึง ปืนพญาตาณี ที่มีขนาดใหญ่ที่ศุค (ขนาดยาว 3 วา ศอกคืบสองนิ้วครึ่ง กระสุน 11 นิ้ว) ซึ่งเป็นปืนใหญ่ กระบอกสำคัญที่ใช้ป้องกันเมืองปัตตานีตลอดมา ชาวเมืองจึงถือว่าเป็นคู่บ้านคู่เมืองมาแต่สมัยโบราณ

The picture of the cannon is Phaya Thani, which is the largest cannon (length of 3 wa, volume 1 palm leaf 2 and a half inch, bullet 11 inch). It is an important cannon used to protect Pattani long time. The citizen thus consider it as respectable from old times.

The cannon is a very important item from the history of Pattani. Phaya Tani is the Thai name, locally it is however know as Seri Pattani. It was cast in the early 17th century, and in 1785 it came to Bangkok as booty after Pattani was put under Thai suzerainty again. It is now located in front of the Defense Ministry, close to the Grand Palace. I had taken that photo some years ago, however I am not fully sure it actually depicts this cannon or its Thai copy Narai Sanghan - I haven't come to that part of the town for quite some time to update my photo. By the way, now the cannons no longer point towards the Grand Palace, they were turned to point north and south in 2004.

A bit strange - the first source spells the cannon as พญาตานี, while the second one พญาตาณี - yet both spelling have the same pronunciation.

Provincial badges of Thai Scouts

On the website ThaiScouting, one of the many high-quality websites made by or under supervision of Richard Barrow at the Sriwittayapaknam School in Samut Prakan, it has two pages which depict badges worn at the back of the scarfs of the scouts. Every province has its own badge (ตราผ้าผูกคอลูกเสือประจำจังหวัด), which is most cases uses the same symbol which is also present in the provincial seal. For example the one of Surat Thani shows the chedi of Wat Phra Borom That, which is also the central symbol of the provincial emblem.

The first page displays the badges of the central, south and western provinces, the second one those of the north, northeast and eastern province. Also notice that there are a total of 12 groups of badges, making up yet another regional subdivision.

There are a few cases where the badge shows a different symbol than the provincial seal - hopefully I catched them all. While for the seals I know the explanation of each symbol (thanks to yet another website of the Paknam school), I have no idea about the alternative symbols yet.

• Phuket - the seal shows the two heroines Thao Thep Kasattri and Thao Sri Sunthon, who saved the island at a Burmese invasion in 1785. The badge however shows a hill which emits light at the top.
• Narathiwat - the seal shows a boat with a white elephant on the sail, commemorating a white elephant once caught in province. The badge shows a forest instead.
• Ratchaburi - the seal shows royal shoes, the badge shows a hill surrounded by a snake.
• Uthai Thani - the seal shows a pavilion at Wat Khao Sakaekrang, the badge a landscape.
  

There were also historical flags for each regional troop. According to Flags Of The World, there was one regional troop in each Monthon, and even more interesting, in many cases the current seals of the central provinces of each Monthon followed the symbol previously used on the regional scout troop flag. For example the one of Monthon Nakhon Si Thammarat depicted shows the conch shell, which is now the symbol on the seal of Songkhla. 1896/97 the Monthon administration was located in Songkhla. To bad I cannot read enough Thai yet, as I own a book on Thai flags which also features these flags, but I cannot check if the above is confirmed by the author. But I'll investigate further and will write about it again when I have more.