Malays

The Malays (Malay-Indonesian: Melayu; Filipino: Malayo; Rejang: ꤷꥁꤼ; Jawi: ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group in Southeast Asia. They mainly live in the Maritime Southeast Asia region (especially within the Malay Archipelago; consist of Indonesian Archipelago and Philippines archipelago), such as Sumatra, Riau Islands, Singapore, Kalimantan (including Brunei), southern Thailand, and southern Philippines.

Malay
Melayuꤷꥁꤼ
ملايو

Tunku Abdul Rahman Hatta Rajasa Hamzah Haz Hang Tuah Hassanal Bolkiah Parameswara Titi Kamal Mahathir Mohamad P. Ramlee Saloma Tantowi Yahya Mahmud Badaruddin II
Total population
c. 27.8 million
Regions with significant populations
Majority populations
Indonesia	± 11,500,000 (2010 estimate)
Brunei	261,902 (2010 estimate)
Malaysia	14,749,378(2010 estimate)
Thailand	3,354,475 (2010 estimate)
653,449 (2010 estimate)
Languages
Malay, Indonesian, Thai, Filipino, English
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Minangkabau, Cham, Cocos Malay

Overview

Malay people were once a tribal group who inhabited the island of Sumatra. According to the Malay Annals, the origin of Malay people are from the area known as Palembang in modern-day South Sumatra.

“

... Here now is the story of a city called Palembang in the land of Andalas. It was ruled by Demang Lebar Daun, a descendant of Raja Shulan, and its river was the Muara Tatang. In the upper reaches of the Muara Tatang was a river called Melayu, and on that river was a hill called Siguntang Mahameru ...

”

Sang Sapurba also mentioned in the Malay Annals as the King of Malays who originated from the hill of Siguntang Mahameru area as well.

The expansion map of the Sriwijaya empire, starting in Palembang in the 7th century, then spreading to most of Sumatra, then expanding to areas of Java, Riau Islands, Bangka Belitung Islands, Singapore, Malacca Peninsula (a.k.a. Kra Peninsula), Thailand, Cambodia, South Vietnam, Kalimantan, until it ended as the Malay Kingdom of Dharmasraya in Jambi in the 14th century.

Malay people transformed from the tribal group into an ethnic group during the glorious era of Srivijaya—the empire that originated from Palembang— when the trading activities grew. Nowadays, Malay people are inhabiting areas that was under the Srivijayan empire rule, with the big population mainly in Sumatra and its surrounding regions such as Bangka Belitung Islands, Riau Islands, Malacca Peninsula (a.k.a. Kra Peninsula), Kalimantan (including Brunei), southern Thailand, southern Vietnam, and southern Philippines.

Language

See the main article: Malay language

Most ethnic Malays speak one or more of the many dialects (versions) of the Malay language, a language of the Austronesian family of languages. In Indonesia, the standardized form of Malay is Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia),These naming policies were created to form national unities in the countries instead of making the Malays a ruling influence or the ruling class. In Malaysia, the standard form is called bahasa melayu (Bahasa Melayu. About 80% of their words mean the same thing in either dialect. same like in Brunei. In Brunei, Thailand and Singapore it is also known as Bahasa Melayu.

Today, the language is usually written a version of the Roman alphabet, called Rumi. Malay written using the Arabic alphabet is called Jawi, which is mostly used in official and religious contexts. Jawi is more common than Rumi in very conservative Muslim areas like Kelantan in Malaysia and Pattani in Thailand.

Religion

The vast majority of ethnic Malays today are Sunni Muslims and Islam has become a large part of the Malay identity.