The Origin of the Malays

The origin of the Malays has always been aan 'ethnic group' which is discussed here, are not
dispute in the academic circle. There are threeto be mistaken with the Malays as a 'race'. That
primary possible theories of the early history ofarea of topic covers a wider group of people in
the Malays existence. The first earliest theory isthe South East Asia and even the Pacific Islands.
based on the Mekong river migration called theDespite the varying theories of the origin of the
"Yunnan Theory" published in 1890. The secondMalays, the academics do agree on a few fact
most latest published theory in 1965 was thefinding discoveries. The Malays although almost all
"New Guinea" theory where the Malays ancestorare Muslims currently, they are originally Buddhist.
seafarers served as scouts and laborer to tradersThe practice of Hinduism during the golden age of
for 2000 years, and the most latest theory is theSrivijayan times was a result of influence coming
"Taiwan Theory" published in 1997 where it statesfrom the Srivijaya Kingdom. For a millennium the
that Malay descendants are sea migrants originallyMalays practiced Hinduism/Buddhism before they
from Taiwan.embraced Islam in the 15th century of the
Currently the Malays are an ethnic group ofsecond millennium.
peoples who are primarily found living around theArchaeologists have found numerous ancient
Malay Peninsula region, which covers theartifacts and architectures of the existence of
extensive vast Sumatra/Borneo areas and smallMelayu Kingdom in Indonesia and Malaysia. The
low-lying islands. It is estimated there are someMalay kingdom have also been mentioned and
23 million Malays in total population. Theetched in various early sources and records from
breakdown in general which are based onthe Tang, Mongol Yuan and even Ming Dynasty;
geographical locations is as follows. Malaysia has 12who often referred the word Ma-La-Yu to a
million Malays, Indonesia numbers stands at 7kingdom from the southern sea.
million, while Thailand has 1.9 million, SingaporeThe origin of the Malays may not be conclusive
around 450,000 and Brunei in the region ofas of now, but generally at least we have an idea
260,000.of the existence of the Malays. This ethnic group
They're a member of the Austronesian family ofnow makes up a majority in the archipelago and
languages and the Malays can be found speakingspeaks various dialects of Malay language. The
the various languages of Malay, Indonesian, YawiMalays cultural influences are continuing to be a
and Thai. The latest census indicates that aboutmain stay in this region.
99% of the Malays are Islam and the Malays as