Malay world

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

  Areas most often considered to be part of the Malay world (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and East Timor)
  Areas that have historically been influenced by Malay culture (the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand)

The Malay world or Malay realm (

controversial in Indonesia and outside the Malay-speaking areas, because it is considered politically charged and irredentist
rather than purely cultural.

The concept in its broadest territorial stretch may apply to a region synonymous with

Malayophones (peoples and nations that speak Malay/Indonesian as their native language or recognize it as an official language) are projected to number an estimated 330 million people by 2025, comprising just under half of the population of Southeast Asia

Australian territories of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island, where Malay is the majority language and a significant minority, respectively.[5]

Alternatively, modern scholars correct these extended notions of the Malay world, defining it as a political and cultural area instead. In this context, the Malay world is reduced to a region that is homeland to the Malay ethnicity, historically ruled by rival sultanates, where various Malayic languages and cultural values are predominant. This area includes the coastal areas of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and the smaller islands in between.[6][7][8]

The most notable use of the concept was in the early 20th century, embraced in an

Sejarah Melayu and Hikayat Hang Tuah do not mention the term "Alam Melayu" (Malay world). The term only developed after 1930, with the first recorded examples coming from Majalah Guru, a Malay states monthly magazine, and the newspaper Saudara, which was published in Penang and circulated throughout the Straits Settlements. Alam Melayu as a concept was only developed and gained popularity after the emergence of Malay nationalism in the early 20th century.[9][10]

Historical origin

Early conception

Muaro Jambi Temple Compounds located in Kampar Regency, Indonesia, is a proof of civilization heritage Melayu Kingdom (a kingdom centered in eastern Sumatra which is the origin of the formation of the Malays).

The epic literature, the

root word 'laju', meaning "to accelerate", used to describe the accelerating strong current of the river.[11]

As a place name (toponym)

Map of ancient Malay realm, based on a popular theory Melayu Kingdom based on Sumatra.

Territorial identification of Malay is of ancient origin. Various foreign and local records show that Melayu (Malay) and its similar sounding variants appear to apply as an old toponym to the ancient

Straits of Malacca region in general.[32]

In the 15th century, the term gradually developed into an

Muslim centre of international trade, with Malay language as its lingua franca.[39] Erédia's description indicates that Malayos was a geo-religio-sociocultural concept, a concept of geographical unity characterised by the common religious belief and cultural features.[40]

An identical term,

Tanah Melayu (literally 'Malay land') is found in various Malay texts, of which the oldest are dating back to the early 17th century.[41] It is frequently mentioned in the Hikayat Hang Tuah, a well known classical work that began as oral tales associated with the legendary heroes of Melaka Sultanate. Tanah Melayu in the text is consistently employed to refer to the area under Melakan dominance.[42] In the early 16th century, Tomé Pires coins an almost similar term, Terra de Tana Malaio for the southeastern part of Sumatra, where the deposed Sultan of Melaka, Mahmud Shah
established his exiled government.

The application of Tanah Melayu to the Malay Peninsula entered into the European authorship, when Marsden and Crawfurd noted it in their historical works published in 1811 and 1820 respectively. Another important term, the Malaya, an English term for the Peninsula, was already used in English writings from the early 18th century.[43]

Due to the lack of available research, it is difficult to trace the development of the concept of the Malay world as a term which later refers to the archipelago. However, thus classical territorial identifications are believed to have formed an important antecedent for the future conceptualisation of the Malay world.[44] The term "Alam Melayu" itself did not exist before the 20th century. Classical Malay literatures between the 14th century to the 20th century never mentioned "Alam Melayu" or any similar term. Instead, the term emerged along with the emergence of the Malay identity and nationality movement after 1930, mentioned in Malay periodicals such as Majalah Guru magazine, Saudara newspaper, Majlis newspaper, and Puisi-Puisi Kebangsaan newspaper.[45][46]

Malay as a racial category

The broader concept of Malay world has its origin from the conceptualisation of Malay as a race by the German scientist

Malay cultural influence, particularly in linguistic, throughout Southeast Asia at the time of European colonisation.[1] The Malay language was one aspect of the prestige of the sultanates in the region, and considered as a language of the educated people in Southeast Asia during the 17th and 18th century. An 18th century European account even suggests that one is not considered a very broadly educated man in the east, if he don't understand Malay.[47]

The popularisation of Malay as a racial category was in essence a colonial product, the significant role of which played by the

Raja-Raja Melayu or even their supporters, but embracing a large if unspecified part of the Archipelago.[48] William Marsden, another British "merchant-scientist", classified the inhabitants of the Archipelago as Malays, based on religion (Islam), language (Malay) and origin.[49]

Malay territoriality in three tiers

In the late 19th century, an important innovation was introduced into the political vocabulary of the

Malay sultanates or any political state in the world beyond the Malay territories.[43]

Siamese rule. In referring to the Archipelago, Wilkinson not only uses "the Archipelago" or "the Indian Archipelago", but also "the Malay world", which might have more sociocultural connotations.[49]

Among the textbooks available during

Malay states (Negeri-Negeri Melayu). It is also important to note the standardization of geographical knowledge in this geography textbook. All states in the peninsula, the main islands and areas of the Netherlands East Indies and all of the Philippines are systematically discussed through the common topics of overview, districts and towns, products, inhabitants and history. Such a systematic and comprehensive catalogue of geographical knowledge helps to convey an image of the Malay world as a territorial entity.[50]

Malay states, Malaya and the Malay world.[51]

Malay nationalism

The standardisation of geographical knowledge and systematic quantification, served to objectify the territoriality of the Malay community. Early authors in Malaya also developed a Malaya-centric view on the subject, proclaiming Malaya or Tanah Melayu as the focal point of the Malay territories. This view reflected the substantialisation of the colonial territorial boundary and provided new objectification of space seems to have played an important role in conceiving a potential national territory. It is probable that these three territorial identities, namely, Malay states, Malaya and the Malay world had much to do with the strands of

On the one hand, in the late 1930s, Malay aristocrats and their supporters began to organize Malay state associations. For them, Malay states were the focus of territorial identity. In postwar Malaya, these state-based Malay associations were dissolved into a Malaya-based Malay political party, that is, the

Ibrahim Hj Yaacob, the territorial stretch of their imagined homeland covered the Malay world or the Malay Archipelago as a whole.[52]

Modern conception

Although the extended notions of Malay world still gained widespread currency, such conceptualisation is sometimes described in other terms, perceived as more 'neutral', like

. New approaches have also been taken by modern authors to redefine the 'Malay world', by taking into account the historic political pattern of the region, in addition to the existing racial-linguistic spread model.

In this context, modern authors in Malay studies like

Austronesian-speaking world as a whole, both of which are usages of Malay world that have crept into scholarly discourse. In this sense, the Malay world refers to various kingdoms and their attendant hinterlands that have existed or still exist along the coasts of Brunei, the east coast of Sumatra and on the Malay Peninsula.[7]

This limited conceptualisation of Malay world was also espoused by Wee. She added further, that the concept is a spatial configuration that resulted from the serial patterning of political alliances, unified by

Sejarah Melayu, that is a particular genealogical tree of kingship. The other, non-Malay areas would be those where the rulers did not claim to belong to this particular genealogical tree. For example, Aceh is located on the northern tip of the Sumatran mainland, yet the rulers evidently did not claim to belong to the Malay genealogical tree. And indeed Aceh is generally not regarded as part of Alam Melayu. On the contrary, both the indigenous and foreign texts indicate that Aceh, similar to Java, was an historical enemy of Alam Melayu. Hence to locate oneself within Alam Melayu is to claim membership in a specific network of political alliances.[53]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Ooi 2009, p. 181
  2. ^ Farrer 2009, p. 26
  3. ^ Amin Sweeney 2011, p. 295
  4. ^ https://www.populationpyramid.net
  5. ^ Samuel, J. (2010) Les voies de l’aménagement linguistique dans le monde malayophone, Télescope 16:3, 135–155.
  6. ^ Milner 1982, p. 112
  7. ^ a b Benjamin & Chou 2002, p. 7
  8. ^ Wee 1985, pp. 61–62
  9. ^ Roff 1974, p. 153
  10. ^ Roff 1974, pp. 212–221
  11. ^ Melebek & Moain 2006, pp. 9–10.
  12. ^ Deka 2007, p. 57.
  13. ^ Pande 2006, p. 266.
  14. ^ Gopal 2000, p. 139.
  15. ^ Ahir 1995, p. 612.
  16. ^ Mukerjee 1984, p. 212.
  17. ^ Sarkar 1970, p. 8.
  18. ^ S. Pathmanathan 2006, p. 60.
  19. .
  20. .
  21. .
  22. .
  23. ^ Himansu Bhusan Sarkar (1970). Some contributions of India to the ancient civilisation of Indonesia and Malaysia. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak. p. 8.
  24. ^ Gerini 1974, p. 101.
  25. ^ I Ching 2005, p. xl–xli.
  26. ^ Coedes 1968, pp. 79–80.
  27. ^ Muljana 1981, p. 223.
  28. ^ "Chronicle of Mongol Yuan". guoxue.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 27 August 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  29. ^ Hall 1981, p. 190.
  30. ^ Cordier 2009, p. 105.
  31. ^ Wright 2004, pp. 364–365.
  32. ^ Barnard 2004, p. 3
  33. ^ Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 1923, p. 37
  34. ^ Mohamed Anwar Omar Din 2011, p. 30
  35. ^ Barnard 2004, p. 4
  36. ^ Milner 2010, p. 22
  37. ^ Barnard 2004, p. 6
  38. ^ Andaya 2008, p. 200
  39. ^ Mohamed Anwar Omar Din 2011, pp. 28–30
  40. ^ Mohamed Anwar Omar Din 2011, p. 31
  41. ^ Mohamed Anwar Omar Din 2012, pp. 80–81
  42. ^ Reid 2010, p. 95
  43. ^ a b c Soda 2001, p. 211
  44. ^ Andaya 2008, p. 46
  45. ^ Roff 1974, pp. 153, 212–221
  46. ^ Bakar 1987, pp. 47, 94, 116
  47. ^ Milner 2010, p. 81
  48. ^ Reid 2001, pp. 296–313
  49. ^ a b Soda 2001, p. 212
  50. ^ Soda 2001, pp. 213–214
  51. ^ Soda 2001, p. 214
  52. ^ a b Soda 2001, p. 229
  53. ^ Wee 1985, pp. 63–65

Bibliography

External links