Malay

Location: Malay consists of the Malay Peninsula and portions of adjacent islands of southeast Asia, including the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and smaller islands that lie between these areas. Malay was once probably a people of coastal Borneo who expanded into Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula as a result of their trading and their use of the sea. This expansion occurred only in the last 1,500 years or so and is indicated by the fact that the languages of the Malay groups are all still very much alike, though very different from the languages of Sumatra, Borneo, and other neighboring lands. In the late 20th century the Malay made up more than half of the population of peninsular Malaysia and more than one-eighth of the population of East Malaysia. Today the population of the Malay Peninsula includes large numbers of Indians and Chinese.

Language: The Malay do not have one set language, but instead they have various dialects belonging to the Austronesian family of languages. The Malay culture has been strongly influenced by that of other peoples, including the Siamese, Javanese, and Sumatran. The influence of Hindu India was historically very great, and the Malay were largely Hindu before they were converted to Islam in the 15th century. The Malay religion is Islam of the school of Shafi'i. Muslim religious holidays are observed.

Daily Life: The Malay are mainly a rural people, living in villages rather than towns where Chinese, Indians, and other groups predominate. Much of the Malay Peninsula is covered by jungle and the villages of 50 to 1,000 people, are located along rivers and coasts or on roads. Houses are built on piling that raising them four to eight feet off the ground, with roofs made of thatch. Some of their nicer houses have plank floors and tile roofs. The main food crop is rice, and the main cash crop is rubber. In the late 1970s, the Malay Peninsula produced more than two-fifths of the world's supply of natural rubber.

Traditionally, the Malay had a somewhat feudal social organization with a division between nobility and commoners. The head of a village was a commoner, but the chief of the district, to whom the head reported, was a nobleman. The nobility has now been replaced by appointed and elected officials subject to a parliament and other elected bodies, but class distinctions still come into play. Marriages have traditionally been arranged by the parents. The typical household is made up of the husband and wife and their children. Marriage and inheritance are governed by Islamic law. Some Hindu ritual survives as in the second part of the marriage ceremony and in various ceremonies of state. In rural areas the Malay have also preserved some of their old beliefs in spirits of the soil and jungle which are partly Hindu in origin; they often have recourse to medicine men or shamans for the treatment of disease.

Though this page has been carefully researched, the author does not claim expertise on Malay culture.

If you are Malay, your feedback is much appreciated.

References:

Koch, Michael. Civilization of the Malay. New York: Brompton Books Corp., 1988.

Rosenthal, Lewis. Malay: People of the Islands. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1982.

Author: Cory D. Johnson