Malays

MALAYS, the name given by Europeans to the people calling themselves Orang Malaya, i.e., Malayan folk, who are the domi nant race of the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago, and to the brown races which inhabit the portion of Asia south of Siam and Indo-China, and the islands from the Philippines to Java, and from Sumatra to Timor, except the Sakai and Semang in the Malay Peninsula, the Bataks in Sumatra, and the Muruts in Borneo. The name of Orang Malayu is given to those who speak the Malayan language, and represent the dominant people of the area. The Proto-Malays originated from Sumatra in the 12th century. They were generally short in stature, round headed, with broad faces, short noses with broadish nostrils, slightly promi nent jaws and cheekbones. The eyes are often oblique with epicentric fold. They belong to the Southern Mongoloid group. (See A. C. Haddon, Races of Man, and L. H. Dudley Buxton, Peoples of Asia.) The Malays had attained to a certain stage of civilization be fore they set foot in Malaya. The semi-wild tribes, ethnologically Malayan and distinct from the aboriginal Semang and Sakai, are met with almost invariably in the neighbourhood of the coast and must have reached the peninsula by a sea route, a fact which explains their amphibian habits. Many tribes hold to a pristine paganism. There were possibly several streams of movement for in some instances the earlier Malay immigrants were driven by the later invaders back down the coast and sought refuge in the far interior.

Social and Political Structure.

The Menangkabau Malays of Sumatra are divided into matrilineal, matrilocal clans. The patrilineal patrilocal clan is found elsewhere, but generally the Malays have advanced to a social order from which the clan system is absent. Their political organisation into aristocratic and lower classes—with hereditary rulers, has attained a high level. There are customs, here and there in this extensive area, relating to succession and inheritance which are clearly related to the matrilineal system found in Sumatra. (See Dr. G. A. Wilken and C. 0. Blagden, Malayan Sociology, 1921.) Religion and Superstitions.—Most Malays to-day are Sunni Mohammedans of the school of Shafi'i, and use the terms Orang Malaya, i.e., a Malay, and Orang Islam, i.e., a Mohammedan, as synonymous expressions. Their conversion from paganism took place between the 13th and isth centuries, A.D. The raja of Achin, in northern Sumatra, is said to have been converted as early as 1206, while the Bugis in Celebes did not become Mohammedans until 1495. Their conversion was slow, gradual, and is even now in some respects imperfect. Upon the bulk of the Malayan peoples

their religion sits but lightly. Prior to their conversion to Islam the Malays were subjected to a considerable Hindu influence, from traders who visited the archipelago from India. In Bali and Lombok the people still profess a form of Hinduism, and Hindu remains are found in many other parts of the archipelago. Throughout, the superstitions of the Malays show this Hindu influence, and many of the demons whom their medicine-men in voke in their magic practices are borrowed from the pantheon of India. A substratum of superstitious beliefs, from the days when the Malays professed only their natural religion, is firmly rooted in the minds of the people. (See W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic, I900. ) Mode of Life.—The Malays of the coast are a maritime people, and were long famous for their piracy. They are now peaceable fisher-folk. Inland the Malays live by preference on the banks of rivers, build houses on piles some feet from the ground, and plant groves of coconut, betel-nut, sugar-palm and fruit-trees around their dwellings. Rice, the staple food of the people, is the principal article of agriculture among them. Sugar-cane, maize, tapioca and other similar products are grown in smaller quanti ties. In planting rice three methods are in use : the cultivation of swamp-rice in irrigated fields; the planting of ploughed areas; and the planting of hill-rice by sowing each grain separately in holes bored for the purpose. In the irrigated fields the rice plants are first grown in nurseries and are subsequently trans planted when they have reached a certain stage of development. The Malays also work jungle produce such as gutta, rattans, agila wood, camphor wood, and the beautiful kamuning wood which is used by the natives for the hilts of their weapons. The principal manufactures of the Malays are cotton and silk cloths, earthenware and silver vessels, mats and native weapons. The best cotton cloths are those manufactured by the Bugis people in Celebes, and the batek cloths which come from Java and are stamped with patterns. The best silks are produced by the natives of Pahang, Kelantan and Johor in the Malay Peninsula. The silver ware from Malaya was pronounced the most artistic of any exhibited at the Colonial Exhibition in London in 1886. The pot tery of the Malays is rude. The Malays made gunpowder and forged cannon before Europeans arrived. For the writing of Malay itself the Arabic character has been adopted for some hundreds of years. At an earlier time the script used was based upon forms borrowed from Indian sources. The Malays are excellent boat-builders.