Note: While this SSS site promotes the use of Bahasa Malaysia in line with Article 152 on its role as the National Language of the country, articles may appear in the English language in oder that the message reaches our target audience. However, SSS Admin replies are always in the language in which the comments are made.
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The single-stream schooling or Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua (SSS) proposal aims at the creation of a united and cohesive Bangsa Malaysia, in the hope of bringing long-term harmony, peace and progress in the country. The New Economic Model (NEM) planned by the Government carrying the slogan of 1Malaysia aims at economic progress, a developed nation status by 2020, peace and prosperity in the country. The two are synergistic. Hopefully, they can be synchronistic as well. They can, if the NEM incorporates plans for changing the current three education systems (national schools, national type Chinese schools, national type Tamil schools) into a single education system (national schools only).
The Malays and the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak are far behind economically and educationally compared to the Chinese largely due to the incidence of history. British colonial policies had done the Malays/ Bumiputeras up quite a bit, coming out at independence owning hardly 1% wealth and, at best, only 5% in the professional jobs of the country in which they are 70% of the population. Historically and culturally, the Malays/ Bumiputeras were a nation of seafarers, engaged in barter trading, mainly for the purpose of daily subsistence, not having a culture of profit-taking or trading on the basis of weights and measures, not of business and the zealousness of making money and wealth accumulation. But with the educational opportunities provided under the New Economic Policy (NEP) starting in 1970, more Malays/ Bumiputeras have better education and now realise the need to speak up and make demands, including on the NEM, for bridging the gap between the Bumiputeras and the Chinese who control the economy, so that there is an equitable distribution of wealth and representation in all the professions, and consequently, less grudging and discontentment. Hopefully, those actions would translate into a harmonious, united and progressive situation in the country.
There has been a lack of inter-ethnic co-operation on what has been called “the restructuring of society”. Willingness to impart business knowledge and experience may not have been forthcoming due to the tradition of exclusivity of clan associations and business guilds that have been written about by researcher Janet T Landa (2008). She spoke about the “club-like ethnically homogeneous middleman group (EHMG) for the provision of infrastructure, essential for middleman entrepreneurship. Chinese merchants embedded in the EHMG were able to economize on transaction costs, and this gave them a differential advantage to out-compete other ethnic groups to appropriate merchant roles.”
And, as far as the SSS is concerned, the proponents of vernacular schools want to cling to the languages of Chinese and Indian civilisations.
All the above may be due to a lack of understanding and respect for the dignity of the Malay civilisation and the Malay language (Bahasa Malaysia). In view of these, we now reproduce write-ups on the Malay civilisation and the Malay language.
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A. Early history and Nation State
The “Early History” volume of “The Encyclopedia of Malaysia” edited by Professor Dr Nik Hassan Shuhaimi includes articles by Professors and PhD degree holders at University of Malaya, National University of Malaysia, National University of Singapore, University of Hawai, Australian National University, etc. Additionally, the book, “The Malay Civilisation” by Mohd Arof Ishak, published by The Historical Society of Malaysia, has a bibliography stating scores of books written by academicians and others world wide, quoting ancient documents and manuscripts some of which were discovered only in recent times. They provide a good and reliable insight into the history of this country, the Malay language and civilisation.
Here are some of the points stated in those books that show that the Malays and the large family of “Rumpun Melayu” have been in this country, Malaysia, and in this region, Southeast Asia, since the beginning of human settlement in this area, several thousand years ago:
1. The Malays (including the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as the aborigines of Peninsular Malaysia, all of whom belong to the same Rumpun Melayu) were the original inhabitants of Malaysia and also of Southeast Asia. A Chinese writer named Ch’en Lun-chiung used the word “Wu-lai-yu” (“Melayu”) in his writings which were completed in 1730. This was acknowledged by no other than the well-respected historian, Professor Wang Gung-wu, in his “Community and Nation”, 1992, pp 158-167. Before that the Mainland Chinese often used the word “barbarians” when referring to ALL others outside “the Middle Kingdom”, including those who conquered and ruled them – the Mongols for about 80 years and the Manchus (Manchuria became a part of China only after World War II) for several hundred years until the 20th Century. The Malays had existed as a civilisation several thousand years ago.
2. According to Ch’en Lun-chiung, people in the following places were all known as “Wu-lai-yu”: the islands of Luzon, Panay, Cebu, Mindanao, Sulu (all in present day Philippines), Banjarmasin, Brunei (in Borneo), Makasar (Sulawesi island), Maluku, Karimon (east of Sumatera), Kalapa (Jakarta), Patani (south Thailand), Kelantan, Trengganu, Pahang, Johor and Malacca. Also, people in the Asian mainland in Cambodia and Vietnam. This was also acknowledged by Professor Wang Gung-wu.
3. The Malay race is a large, ancient family of many groups, each group having its own name, like Aceh, Bajau, Bidayuh, Bugis, Chamorro, Iban, Ifugao, Kadazan, Maori, Merina, Suluk, etc. They may therefore be known as Achenese Malay, Bajau Malay, Bidayuh Malay and so on. In Peninsular Malaysia there are those who are of Javanese, Bugis, Aceh etc descent but “Malay” has been an apt description of them. The term “Rumpun Melayu” aptly describes the Malays, the Indonesians and the Filipinos. Indeed, the Filipinos called Jose Rizal, their independence fighter during the Spanish colonial days, as “The Great Malay” and one Filipino history book is titled just that.
4. Many linguistic studies have been carried out by Westerners since the 19th Century and they have concluded that the various ethnic and sub-ethnic groups that settled this vast area known as the Malay Archipelago are indeed of one and the same race – the Malays. Modern linguistic studies started from the 18th Century linguist, Sir William Jones. The family of language is determined by the grammar and vocabulary used.
5. In proto-historic and ancient times there have been various Malay states in Southeast Asia. What has been commonly known was the Srivijaya Empire centred in Sumatra 600-1200 AD. Another Malay state was also established in the present day Jambi area 4th – 13th Cent AD. Malay civilisation centred in Kedah had been active during that period as well. Kedah had appeared in Chinese records in 638 AD when it sent an ambassador to China. “Pan-pan”, believed to be in the Kelantan or Trengganu area, had been in Chinese records even earlier as they were in contact with China in 530 AD and 535 AD.
6. In 607 AD, a Chinese envoy sent abroad by a Sui Dynasty Emperor recorded having passed by Langkasuka (believed to be in present day Patani) and reached an inland kingdom called “Chi tu” or “Red Earth Land”, believed to be in Kelantan. In 671 AD, a Chinese Buddhist monk Yiqing on a pilgrimage to the brith place of Buddha in India, stayed 6 months to learn Sanskrit in Srivijaya, then sailed to “Malayu” in southeast Sumatra, then to Kedah. “Yiqing clearly stated that his voyages were all undertaken in ships belonging to Malay Kings” – Dr John Miskic, National University of Singapore, Encyclopaedia of Malaysia, pg 83. The Malays have been good hosts since ancient times and that kind nature must not be exploited.
7. The original centre of Malay civiliation is the Malay Archipelago of Southeast Asia – the largest group of islands in the entire world – measuring from end to end longer than the length of Mainland China. This Malay Archipelago comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, small islands in the South China Sea, Singapore, a part of Peninsular Malaya that became part of south Thailand, and several islands south of Myanmar. All these areas have originally been settled by the Malays.
8. Taiwan is also an island very important in respect of the origin of the Malays. Several studies have been done in that respect.The Cocos/ Keelings and Christmas Island (now a part of Australia) were also part of the Malay Archipelago. Large parts of Vietnam and Cambodia on the Asian Mainland were also centres of ancient Malay civilisation. The Department of Museums and Antiquities held a Seminar in 2004 on “The Campa Malay Manuscript, Heritage of a Malay Civilisation” that existed (and remnants still exist even now) in Indo-China, specifically Vietnam and Cambodia. (The proceedings of the Seminar were published by the Department and is on sale).
9. Among the works of Professors, PhD degree holders, etc used as reference materials in the book published by the Historical Society of Malaysia are: Wang Gung-wu, “Community and Nation”, 1992; Charles F. Keyes, “The Golden Peninsula”, 1977; Wolfram Eberhard, “A History of China”, 1977; Peter Bellwood, “Man’s Conquest of the Pacific”, 1979; Kenneth Hall & John K. Whitmore, “Explorations in Early Southeast Asian History; The Origins of Southeast Asian Statecraft”, 1986; and scores of others.
10. A nation state has existed in Malaysia since ancient times and the leader of the organisation promoting Chinese schools should not try to inject the idea of a “multi-nation state” like he did recently. We are a multi-racial country (70% Bumiputeras, 30% Chinese, Indians and others) but calling Malaysia a multi-nation state, whatever it may mean, is not acceptable.
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B. The Malays and “Rumpun Melayu”
The Large Family of Malays and the Malay Language –
The Malay language is very ancient and comprises of a huge family of languages. Whereas the Malays (Rumpun Melayu of 350 million people) constitute only 6% of the total population of the world (6 billion people), the large family of Malay languages (totalling 1,268) represent 22% of the number of languages in the world (totalling 6,000).
These are actual languages in the scientific and linguistic sense. If dialects are included, the number is larger still.
Scientists who have studied the family of Malay languages include the following:
1. 1772-75 Dr Reinhold Forster who accompanied Captain Cook in his 2nd voyage to the South Pacific. He compiled a list of words from 11 languages in several islands there and compared them with words of the same meaning in the Malay language and with 3 languages in South America. He found them having similarities with the Malay language but none at all with the South American languages.
2. 1776-80 Anderson, another scientist travelling with Captain Cook studied the numericals used in various islands of Polynesia and in Madagascar and compared them with those used in the Malay language. He found very clear similarities among them.
3. About 1800, a Spanish Jesuit priest, Abbe Lorenzo Herves, confirmed that the Malay language, the language used in Madagascar, and the languages of the Polynesian islands belong to the same family.This priest was recorded as the person who had made “the most remarkable discovery in the history of linguistic studies, being the identification of one family of spoken languages, namely the Malay and the Polynesian languages, which were spread very far and wide from the Island of Madagascar across a 208 degree angle to Easter Island” – L. Andrews, “A Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language”, 1977, pg 7.
4. Some years after that, a European scholar, William Marsden, also identified the oneness of the languages referred to by Herves and called them “The Great Polynesian” (Language).
5. In 1836, a leading Linguist, William Von Humboldt, carried out a large and comprehensive study, comparing 9 languages in the family of the Malay language – Malay, Malagasy (Madagascar), Javanese, Buginese, Tagalog (Philippines), Maori, Tonga, Tahitian and Hawaiian. He concluded that these languages belong to the same civilization – the Malay civilization.
Given below are the number of Malay languages found in selected areas:
Peninsular Malaysia : 1 (+4 orang asli languages)
Sumatra : 22 languages
Java : 3 languages
Philippines :160 languages
Borneo :153 languages
Sulawesi :114 languages
Taiwan : 23 languages
Madagascar : 11 languages.
The Spread of the Malays –
How old is this Malay race, Malay Polynesia or Austronesia race?
In the 20th Century, various studies have been carried out on the migration and movement of the Malay people who have crossed the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Linguistic and archaeological studies especially since the 1950s have contributed a lot towards finding the age of the Malay race.
G.W Grace, a linguist of the 1960s, placed the origin of the Malay language at between 3,000 BC – 2,500 BC i.e 4,500 – 5,000 years ago – William Howells, “The Pacific Islanders”, 1973, pg 104. Isidore Dyen, a linguist of the 1950s, explained that Malayo-Polynesia is a major branch in the Austronesia (Malay) language and is of the opinion that the Malayo-Polynesian language alone is older than the Indo-European language which scholars have said appeared around 2,500 BC. Dyen believes that the Malayo-Polynesian people had started moving around and spread even well before 2,500 BC – William Howells, pg 104.
R. Ferrel a linguist expert on the natives of Taiwan, wrote in the 1960s that the Atayalic language in Taiwan grew out of proto Malay language (the original Malay language) since 4,000 BC-3,000 BC i.e 5,000-6,000 years ago. Ferrel is also of the opinion that the Tsouic language in Taiwan had grown out of proto-Malay language at about the same period. The original Malay language is therefore much older.
Many stuidies have led to the hypothesis that Taiwan / south China is the origin of the Malay race. Peter Bellwood is a well known supporter of that and believes that the spread of the original Malay language occurred between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago and that this took place in the centre of the Malay world, i.e an area that could not be identified but in the range of islands between Taiwan, Philippines and East Indonesia – Peter Bellwood, “Man’s Conquest of the Pacific, 1979.
This means that the Malay race is one of the oldest in the world.
Linguist William Howells himself had placed the first movement of the Malay people outward at 4,000 BC. So, it is clear that various scholars and linguistic experts have put forward the view that the Malay race is an ancient one and is about 7,000 years old, or even older.
Archaeologists have put out archaeological findings which showed that the Tonga islands were the first settlement of Malays in the Polynesian Islands after they arrived from Fiji Island. Samoa became the second island. These were estimated at around 1,000 BC.
The Malays reached the Easter Island around 500 AD despite it being the only island and so far away. Carbon dating of artifacts had shown that the Malays from Marquesas Islands reached and settled in Hawai around 750 AD – Joseph Feher, “Hawai, A Pictorial History”, 1969, pg 27. By 1,000 AD, the bigger islands of the Hawai chain had all been settled.
They arrived in boats built by inhabitants of the Marquesas Islands; the boats were as long as 18-24 meters and each could carry 30-40 people. From Tahiti, the Malays moved to Cook Islands and eventually touched the islands of New Zealand around 1,000 AD.
The fact that the Malays had discovered and settled all the islands of the Pacific Ocean, which is so vast, is testimony to the excellence in sailing and navigation skills of the Malays. This is a feat not comparable to any others up to this day. All researchers and scholars agree that all the islands of the Pacific Ocean, however small or isolated, bear marks of having been visited and settled by the Malays in a period of time stretching 3,700 years or a little longer.
The Malay Archipelago was the birth place of Malay civilisation. American Professor Wihelm G. Solheim had produced a number of books and notes on the prehistory of Southeast Asia – Mohd Arof, “The Malay Civilization”, 2007, pg 22, 96. Professor Solheim said that the Malays had been living a culture of seafarers and traders, possessing sailing and navigational skills that enabled them to traverse the entire seas of the Malay Archipelago since 5,000 BC or 7,000 years ago.
According to Professor Solheim, the specific place in the Malay Archipelago with the highest possibility of being the origin of the Malay people is the area where today is found the Bugis, Bajau and other Malay ethnic groups that have been very active seafarers and traders for ages in history. They have made the Sulu Seas, fringed with the large islands of Borneo (Kalimantan), Sulawesi and Mindanao, as the busiest seafaring area. They spread to the Pacific Ocean, starting from eastern Indonesia, before 5,000 BC. They moved north as traders through Philippines, Taiwan and southern China, reaching Korea and Japan.
Professor Solheim also believed that the Cham Malays who still occupy parts of Vietnam and Cambodia to this day had moved there from the Malay Archipelago after about 2,000 BC. Solheim also stated that the Malay language evolved in the Malay Archipelago at the end of the Ice Age w hen the Malay Archipelago took shape about 8,000 years ago. The latest research on this subject done by Stephen Oppenheimer, “Eden in the East”, 2001, strongly supported the views put forward by Solheim.
Ancient Chinese records written as early as 3rd Century AD mentioned “Kun Lun” people (ancient Chinese terminology for those coming by sea from the direction of Southeast Asia) conducting trade between east and west. Those records mentioned the boats used by the Malay traders. According to those records, the Malay boats were large, about 170 feet (51 meters) long. In the Polynesian islands of the south Pacific, the well known English voyager, Captain Cook, himself saw and recorded boats of about 108 feet (32 meters) which could carry 300 sailors.
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C. The Spread of the Malays –
The Malay Continent: Land and Sea World (Tanah Air) –
How old is this Malay race, Malay Polynesia or Austronesia race?
In the 20th Century, various studies have been carried out on the migration and movement of the Malay people who have crossed the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Linguistic and archaeological studies especially since the 1950s have contributed a lot towards finding the age of the Malay race. G.W Grace, a linguist of the 1960s, placed the origin of the Malay language at between 3,000 BC – 2,500 BC i.e 4,500 – 5,000 years ago – William Howells, “The Pacific Islanders”, 1973, pg 104. Isidore Dyen, a linguist of the 1950s, explained that Malayo-Polynesia is a major branch in the Austronesia (Malay) language and is of the opinion that the Malayo-Polynesian language alone is older than the Indo-European language which scholars have said appeared around 2,500 BC. Dyen believes that the Malayo-Polynesian people had started moving around and spread even well before 2,500 BC – William Howells, pg 104.
R. Ferrel a linguist expert on the natives of Taiwan, wrote in the 1960s that the Atayalic language in Taiwan grew out of proto Malay language (the original Malay language) since 4,000 BC – 3,000 BC i.e 5,000 – 6,000 years ago. Ferrel is also of the opinion that the Tsouic language in Taiwan had grown out of proto-Malay language at about the same period. The original Malay language is therefore much older.
Many studies have brought out the hypothesis that Taiwan / south China is the origin of the Malay race. Peter Bellwood is a well known supporter of that and believes that the spread of the original Malay language occurred between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago and that this took place in the centre of the Malay world, i.e an area that could not be identified but in the range of islands between Taiwan, Philippines and East Indonesia – Peter Bellwood, “Man’s Conquest of the Pacific, 1979. This means that the Malay race is one of the oldest in the world.
Linguist William Howells himself had placed the first movement of the Malay people outward at 4,000 BC. So, it is clear that various scholars and linguistic experts have put forward the view that the Malay race is an ancient one and is about 7,000 years old, or even older.
The archaeologists’ Views:
Archaeologists have put out archaeological findings which showed that the Tonga islands were the first settlement of Malays in the Polynesian Islands after they arrived from Fiji Island. Samoa became the second island. These were estimated at around 1,000 BC. The Malays reached the Easter Island around 500 AD despite it being the only island and so far away. Carbon dating of artifacts had shown that the Malays from Marquesas Islands reached and settled in Hawai around 750 AD – Joseph Feher, “Hawai, A Pictorial History”, 1969, pg 27. By 1,000 AD, the bigger islands of the Hawai chain had all been settled. They arrived in boats built by inhabitants of the Marquesas Islands; the boats were as long as 18 – 24 meters and each could carry 30 – 40 people.
From Tahiti, the Malays moved to Cook Islands and eventually touched the islands of New Zealand around 1,000 AD.
The fact that the Malays had discovered and settled all the islands of the Pacific Ocean, which is so vast, is testimony to the excellence in sailing and navigation skills of the Malays. This is a feat not comparable to any others up to this day. All researchers and scholars agree that all the islands of the Pacific Ocean, however small or isolated, bear marks of having been visited and settled by the Malays in a period of time stretching 3,700 years or a little longer.
The hypothesis that south China or Taiwan was the origin of Malay civilisation has been hotly disputed by those who believe that the Malay Archipelago was, in reality, the birth place of Malay civilisation. The latter includes the scolar Wihelm Solheim. He insisted that the Malays had been living a culture of seafarers and traders, possessing sailing and navigational skills that enabled them to traverse the entire seas of the Malay Archipelago since 5,000 BC or 7,000 years ago.
According to Solheim, the specific place in the Malay Archipelago with the highest possibility of being the origin of the Malay people is the area where today is found the Bugis, Bajau and other Malay ethnic groups that have been very active seafarers and traders for ages in history. They have made the Sulu Seas, fringed with the large islands of Borneo (Kalimantan), Sulawesi and Mindanao, as the busiest seafaring area. They spread to the Pacific Ocean, starting from eastern Indonesia, before 5,000 BC. They moved north as traders through Philippines, Taiwan and southern China, reaching Korea and Japan. Solheim also believed that the Cham Malays who still occupy parts of Vietnam and Cambodia to this day had moved there from the Malay Archipelago after about 2,000 BC. Solheim also stated that the Malay language evolved in the Malay Archipelago at the end of the Ice Age when the Malay Archipelago took shape about 8,000 years ago. The latest research on this subject done by Oppenheimer strongly supported the hypothesis put forward by Solheim.
Ancient Chinese records written as early as 3rd Century AD mentioned “Kun Lun” people (ancient Chinese terminology for those coming by sea from the direction of Southeast Asia) conducting trade between east and west. Those records spoke about the boats used by the Malay traders. According to those records, the Malay boats were large, about 170 feet (51 meters) long. In the Polynesian islands of the south Pacific, the well known English voyager, Captain Cook, himself saw and recorded boats of about 108 feet (32 meters) which could carry 300 sailors. And there were reports stating “in the year 945 an Arab sailor suddenly came into a fleet of 1,000 Malay boats in the act of piracy in the straits of Mozambique” -A.M Jones, “Africa and Indonesia”, 1964, pg 187.
Malay boats used for trade and voyages to the Indian Ocean region were referred to in 1st Century BC records as “large boats built from two round trees that are merged (dua batang pokok kayu bulat yang dicantumkan)”, an image similar to the type used by the inhabitants of Polynesian islands. One Chinese record on the “Kun Lun” (Malay) ships in the 3rd Century mentioned the size as “200 feet long and 20 feet high from the sea water surface.” The Malay boats could carry 600 – 700 people, with cargo of up to 900 ton, and each could be fitted with up to four sails .
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