Malays/History

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Oft overlooked and under-appreciated by laypeople outside the ambits of academic Orientalism or historical research, the Malay Archipelago has played a role in global affairs far beyond its reach across the world. For most of our history, It has been a hub of maritime trade for centuries, hosting a vast number of trade routes and interactions which influenced cultural exchange, and shaped empires - and still do to this very day. Its history, and that of the cultures that call this vast network of insular lands (called Nusantara by natives) home is probably no less fascinating than anywhere else on earth, especially given that it is punctuated by vast extremes: like mainland Indochina, the Malay archipelago on the one hand is known for its multicultural diversity and immense tolerance and coexistence against a backdrop of immense biodiversity and riches in terms of natural resources and trade; yet on the other hand, this seemingly ideal world too has had its own share of tales of oppression, social inequality, and political upheaval.

The Malays are the race of people who inhabit the Malay Peninsula (what is today Peninsular Malaysia) 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. They and their distant Polynesian cousins were great seafarers who once dominated most parts of Southeast Asia and for centuries, the Malays would build great kingdoms, huge monuments and pioneered maritime technologies, grasping a huge maritime area extending from Madagascar in the West to the Indonesian islands in the East, while the Polynesian peoples would colonise various enclaves of the Pacific Ocean and develop a culture that remains as unique and fascinating as any one other in the human world today. Three centuries of Western colonisation and the dominance of pop culture from larger continental cultures however have all but eclipsed the histories of these peoples and the roles they played in the development of human culture and civilisation — something which the Warbirth project was intended to reverse. Thus, the history of the Malay peninsula and its peoples must be one which a student of history, especially global history, will ignore much to his peril.

While this history article was meant primarily to support the Warbirth project with regards to Malay factions (viz, Malays, Funan) and their Polynesian relatives, it however is also being prepared to support Swords of the Prophets too. Thus, this history will discuss the origins of the Malay peoples, as well as the two great pre-Islamic civilizations which dominated Malay history for most of their time on earth until the Middle Ages: the kingdom of Funan, as well as the mighty empire of Srivijaya.

Setting the Scene: The Malay Archipelago[edit | edit source]

Comprising an area of almost 2.5 million sq km, and located at a juncture between the Pacific, the Chinese mainland, the Indian subcontinent and Australia, the Malay Archipelago along with the Philippines is one of the world's most geopolitically strategic and biodiverse regions on the planet, owing to the rise in sea levels ever since the last Ice Age, which turned a land of high peaks and mountains into an oceanic region comprising over 25,000 islands.

While prone to tectonic activity and volcanism, such phenomena too also lend immense fecundity and a wealth of resources to these regions; until the early Modern era, the Malay archipelago was a major exporter of gold (for instance, Ptolemy of Alexandria's name for the Malay peninsula was Aurea Chersonesus, ie "Golden peninsula"); it too was also known as the "Spice Islands", owing to it being the source of the herbs and spices sought for and trafficked along the then lucrative Spice Route between Europe and Asia, thanks to its equatorial tropical climate.

Unfortunately, as with the pre-mediaeval history of the rest of Southeast Asia, the prehistory of this region was not well documented. Its historical sources are based on reports from outsiders, inscriptions and archaeological finds, artefacts such as sculptures and paintings, and tales. Yet, the past three centuries of records and excavations have left mankind with enough material to reconstruct a vivid picture of sorts of the many kingdoms and communities therein - what life must have been like in them.

People of the Sea: The Malay Peoples and the Asia-Pacific Region[edit | edit source]

Before we delve into the history of the Malays, we need to make clear: who or what is a Malay, especially given the strong political sentiments that today infect questions of ethnicity and origin across the so-called "Malay" nations of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

In the contemporary world, the definitions of Malay and Malayness tend to wildly differ: while ethnographers and linguistic experts may have the broadest definition of Malay-ness as an Austronesian culture and language group that can comprise a vast area from Taiwan in the north to precolonial peoples living on the northernmost coasts of what is now Australia (and probably as far west as Madagascar) ethnarchs in present-day Malaysia and Indonesia however may insist on a more exclusive definition that excludes anyone and everyone outside of Nusantara itself. Whatever their motives for doing so, these definitions too may also exclude non-Muslims ... even if academics living within the Malay archipelago and beyond may include non-Muslim people on the basis that they are still Malays, solely by way of culture and linguistic similarities.

From the ethnographic perspective, thus far there are three origins of the Malay peoples: the first one is that they were the descendents of one or more waves of human migrants who travelled overland from Yunnan in the present-day territory of the People's Republic of China.

The second one, however, states that the Malay peoples are descended mainly from migrants in Mainland Asia related to the Lapita culture on Fiji (the precursors of Polynesians), who unlike the Polynesian peoples who migrated farther south and east, most notably to what is today New Zealand (or Aotearoa), this former group instead travelled along the coast of what is today China, before making landfall across the Malay Archipelago. It is most noteworthy that the Malay and Polynesian people often exhibit physiological and linguistic similarities; most notable are the existence of cognate words that are common in both Malay and Polynesian languages.

A third one, however, places their origin in the last Ice Age (c 100,000 to 25,000 years ago) as a group of nomadic humans who settled what was then a single contiguous mass, but eventually became isolated from the rest of the Old World as global warming resulted in rising sea levels.


The tribal proto-Malays, or Jakun, were a seafaring people. They were once probably a people of coastal Borneo who expanded into Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula as a result of their trading and seafaring way of life. These sea-tribes, refered to by the Portuguese historian Godinho de Eredia as Saletes (Orang Selat, or People of the Straits), played a major part in the making of the great Malay empires of Malacca and Johor.

Prehistoric Polynesia and the Malay Archipelago[edit | edit source]

Like other cultures, the Polynesians used a flattened or terraced pyramid for worship, similar to a ziggurat. They grew in population most significantly after A.D. 1000.

"Archaeological research has identified a nuanced trade system forming in the Malay Peninsula around the 6th and 7th centuries. The earliest of these sites, situated both on the east and west coast of the Malay Peninsula, were predominantly collection centres to which local products were transported before being sold elsewhere. Over time entrepôts, large trading centres on the Maritime Silk Roads between east and west, appeared in the peninsula as these maritime routes came to dominate global trade. These were mainly located on the West coast at the Northern entrance of the Straits of Malacca, which became an increasingly important route for global trade.

Collecting centres in the Malay Peninsula, such as Kampung Sungai Lang in the Kuala Langat district and Batu Buruk in Kuala Terengganu, emerged on both the west and east coasts of the Peninsula. However, the volume of trade handled by these collecting centres was comparatively much smaller than that which occurred at the entrepôts, or trade hubs, which emerged from the first millennium AD onwards alongside the Maritime Silk Roads.

In contrast, entrepôts were true super centres for trade where goods from the Near East, the Indian subcontinent, and China were landed, sold and reshipped to their final destinations. In the case of Malaysian entrepôts these included forest products and minerals from which tin was extracted. These sites were identified by archaeologists based on the evidence they left behind, including the remains of Middle Eastern glassware, stone beads, and trade wares from China.

With the rise of entrepôts, and the feeder points which supplied them with regional goods, in the 6th and 7th century AD the pattern of trade across the region became more structured and occurred at various scales , with auxiliary points facilitating major centres. During this time the Straits of Malacca where particularly important to Silk Roads trade, linking regions west of the Bay of Bengal with those bordering on the South China Sea and further north.

However, archaeological evidence from Thailand suggests that regular trade links between this region and the Indian subcontinent were established long before the mid-first millennium AD. For example, a few Roman "carnelian intaglios" (an engraved brownish-red semi-precious gemstone) have been found in the Krabi province in Thailand. Whilst these may have reached the region via land routes, archaeological evidence recently found in Bali in Indonesia, including sherds of Indian rouletted ware (pottery fragments of a distinctive type of ceramic) and Indian glass beads, suggests a long distance maritime trade route may have existed from as early as the first century AD.

Located at the junction between the Indian Ocean and the China Seas, the Malay Peninsula played a vital role in the trade between east and west, leaving a rich history of contacts and exchange between the peninsula and mainland South East Asia. As was the case across the length of the Maritime Silk Roads, these trade links were accompanied by a wider exchange of ideas, cultures and languages. From at least 200 BCE, Chinese merchants sailed as far south as the straits of Malacca and met and traded with both Indonesian people and merchants from across the Indian subcontinent. Feeder points and trading centres grew up on coasts along these trading routes and over time the interactions facilitated by the emergence of entrepôts left a considerable mark on the cultural heritage of the region."


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A Pattern for All Seasons: The Mandala of Funan[edit | edit source]

The smaller kingdoms develop­ing in the central peninsula came to be dominated by the Kingdom of Funan from the first to the seventh centuries AD. Funan, probably the first great Southeast Asian empire, apparently started out as a simple pirate base at Óc Eo, strategical­ly situated on the southwest coast of Vi­etnam today between the Mekong delta and the main east-west maritime trade routes. Óc Eo then developed as the main trading port in the Gulf of Thailand re­gion, a central emporium for goods and traders from China, the Malay world and the Indian Ocean. Archaeological excavations at Óc Eo have unearthed objects there from as far away as Rome, India, China and Japan, and it is now thought that it was the site of the city of Cattigara mentioned by the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria.

Aside from Western sources, a few existing Chinese, Indian and Arab writings leave us fleeting descriptions of these smaller central Malay Penin­sula kingdoms during this period of Funanese domination from roughly the first to the end of the seventh century. According to Indian legend, Funan became a more civilised place when an Indian leader of high birth sailed east, married a Funanese princess and became king. He persuaded the Funa­nese that supplying and trading with passing ships would be more profitable in the longer term than attacking and plundering them. Funan developed a powerful navy and army and attempted to control all trade around the Gulf of Thailand in­cluding the important trans-peninsular portage routes in the Malay Peninsula. This story, as sensational and entertaining as it may be as a yarn and thus a veritable source for historical fiction novels, could well be possibly true: it was echoed later by Tang era chroniclers in China has having taken place in the 4th century CE.

An early Chinese account tells us that the Funanese were a “dark and curly haired people who went naked." Kangtai and Zhuying, two third-century Chinese emissaries to Funan, noted the wealth of the Funanese and tell us, “They live in walled villages, palaces and houses … [the people] go about naked and barefoot. Their nature is simple and they are not inclined to­wards thievery… they undertake agri­culture… Customs and taxes are paid in gold, silver, pearls and perfumes… there are books and depositories of ar­chives and other things.”

A third-century Chinese report tells of a powerful Funanese king called Fan Chu Man who, “by the might of his arms, attacked and subdued neighbor­ing kingdoms and all admitted them­selves his vassals … He had great ships constructed in which he crossed over the sea [Gulf of Thailand] and attacked and subdued more than ten kingdoms and expanded his kingdom in all direc­tions for some 6,000 li” By 503 CE, the imperial court of China officially recognised the King of Funan as the leader of all Nangyang (the southern seas) and conferred upon him the title “General of the Pacified south”.

By the late seventh century, however, Funan was attacked and overrun by the Kingdom of Chenla, a large Khmer ag­ricultural kingdom to its north. Chenla was a more agricultural and less mari­time kingdom and it was ultimately un­able to maintain the control that Funan had maintained over the trans-peninsu­lar trade routes and the local kingdoms that had grown up around them.

Tun Sun seems to have been the early Chinese name for the whole central Ma­lay Peninsula under Funanese control. It was mentioned that this kingdom was centered on the Tapi River which empties into the sea at Surat Thani and that it controlled several of the main central trans-peninsular trade routes. One third-century Chinese script tells us that Tun Sun was “An ocean stepping stone, situated on a precipitous coast 3,000 li south of Funan … it has five kings, all vassals of Funan … On the east, the kingdom was in commu­nication with Tongking (South China), on the west, with India and Parthia (Persia).”

Another third-century Chinese source, the “Tai Ping Yu Lan” chronicle notes, “Tun Sun was originally an in­dependent kingdom but King Fan Man [of Funan] subdued it.” A fifth-century Chinese chronicle, the “Fu-Nan Chi” tells us:

“Ton-sun is a dependency of Funan. In the country there are five hundred families of ‘Hun’ [merchants?] from India, two hundred ‘fo-te’ [Buddhists?] and more than a thousand Indian Brahmins. The people of Tun sun prac­tice their doctrine and give them their daughters in marriage; consequently many of the Brahmins do not leave the place. They do nothing but study the sa­cred canon, bathe themselves with scent and flowers and practice piety by day and night.”

Clearly these Brahmins, who in In­dia would have been celibate, were en­joying the comparatively more relaxed mores and lifestyle in Suvarnabhumi, which also calls into question their au­thenticity. The same chronicle also states: “Tunsun is situated across the Gulf of Siam 3,000 li southwards of Funan. Among the inhabitants are many with white complexions.” It is unclear whether this means Malays, Persians, Romans or simply rich traders who did not have to work in the fields or on ships. The kingdom of Tun Sun is, rather strangely, never mentioned in Chinese writings after the eighth century, prob­ably because Chinese travelers and of­ficials got to know the peninsula better and began to identify the individual kingdoms there after they had become independent of Funan’s overlordship and several of them began to send their own embassies and trade missions north to China.

Malay culture itself has been strongly influenced by that of other peoples, including the Siamese, Javanese, Sumatran and, especially, Indians. The influence of Hindu India was historically very great, and the Malay were largely Hinduized before they were converted to Islam in the 15th century. For nearly two thousand years, the unremitting traffic of traders between the Archipelago and India resulted in frequent inter-marriages along the whole of the west coast of the peninsula, especially Tamils and Gujeratis. Some Hindu ritual survives in Malay culture, as in the second part of the marriage ceremony and in various ceremonies of state. Malays have also preserved some of their more ancient, animistic beliefs in spirits of the soil and jungle, often having recourse to medicine men or shamans (bomohs) for the treatment of ailments.

By 627 CE, the mandala of Funan as an economic and imperial power was as good as a spent force. Chinese accounts speak of how the Khmer-dominated kingdom of Chenla annexed parts of Funan before penultimately subjugating it, while across the sea, Funan's possessions were now led by a new kingdom - the Javanese kingdom of Sailendra, who claimed descent from the kings of Funan. However, none of these would dominate Southeast Asia in the early Middle Ages so intensely as did Sailendra's partner and liege lord — the empire of Srivijaya.

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The Lords of Spice and Gold: The Srivijaya empire[edit | edit source]

The Srivijaya kingdom was based in the district now known as Palembang in Sumatra and could exert its influence Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia and the Philippines. Srivijaya was heavily influenced by Indian culture, first by Hindu culture and then followed by Buddhism. The Srivijaya kings ruled the Malay archipelago through trade, diplomacy and conquest from the 7th to the 9th century, and like the Habsburgs almost a thousand years later and six thousand miles further west, utilised royal exogamous marriages to expand peacefully. Although the core of Srivijaya was essentially the southern tip of Sumatra, at its zenith the Srivijayan mandala or imperium stretched well across the western Malay archipelago, and the kings had both Javanese and Palembang blood through royal intermarriages.

Based on graffiti on a stone found at Kedukan Bukit (southern Sumatra), the kingdom of Srivijaya was thought to have been founded in 683 CE by Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa, who led a host of as many as 20,000 men from Minanga Tamwan (central Sumatra). Other inscriptions discovered at Kota Kapur on Bangka Island (dated 686 CE), Karang Birahi at Jambi Hulu (686 CE) dan Palas Pasemah south of Lampung (southernmost Sumatra) all recount the same event. An interpretation of these inscriptions suggest that it was indeed Jayanasa who established the kingdom of Srivijaya after having vanquished his rivals at Jambi, Palembang, south Lampung and Bangka Island. Even as the actual background of Jayanasa and even the actual location of Minanga Tamwan is still debated, some authorities hypothesise that the vast army brought by Jayanasa on his campaign may have been recruited from the Peninsula of Malaya.

Srivijaya expanded further first by seizing control of western Java toward the end of the 7th century CE. The Kota Kapur inscription (dated 549 -686 CE) makes note of a curse invoked by the king of Srivijayan upon a small kingdom in the same area shortly before the conquest took place. This event appeared to have taken place almost concurrently with the decline of the kingdoms of Tarumanagara and Kalingga in Western Java. Military might was not the only source of Srivijaya's power and claim to fame - in trade and diplomacy, we are told that Srivijaya was immensely rich, and that the kingdom also corresponded with Muslim Arabia as well as the Tang and Song rulers of China (as well as the petty kingdoms of Min and South Han during the bloody interregnum that saw power pass from the Tang to the Song). An Arab writer, Ibn Ruslah, claimed that "there was not a nation that was as strong nor as rich as Srivijaya", while the Song statesman Zhao Rukuo (also called Chou Ju-Qua) noted that Srivijaya's influence reached far and wide across southeast Asia, encompassing as many as fifteen different subsidiary kingdoms and reaching even the northernmost borders of the former Funanese polity. Dapunta Hyang, who ruled since 664 CE, married the second daughter of king Linggawarman of the Tarumanagara Kingdom named Sobakancana, from whom descended the next Srivijaya king: Dharma Setu. So the king of Srivijaya, Dharma Setu was of dual Sundanese and Palembang descent. Dharma Setu's daughter, Dewi Tara was later married to Samaratungga, king of the Ancient Mataram Kingdom of the Syailendra Dynasty, who built the Borobudur temple. Bala Putra Dewa, the son of Samaratungga and Dewi Tara became king of Srivijaya (r 833-856 CE).

But of all the states and kingdoms that Srivijaya had contact with, perhaps the most important one was closest to home. This was the Sailendra kingdom, a dynasty of Buddhist monarchs who ruled Central Java and who in our time are probably better known as the builders of great structures such as the Buddhist temple complex at Borobudur. Sailendra could also exert its influence into the sea all the way to Bali, which suited its Srivijayan overlords well enough - we are told of accounts of dynastic marriages between Sailendra and Srivijaya - which suited the sons of Jayanasa well - the Srivijaya polity was concerned with its closest rivals who were chiefly located to the east in eastern Java and beyond. Over time, Srivijaya became one of the most important centres of Mahayana Buddhism, and also spread Malay culture throughout Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and West Borneo.

From the 730s CE onward, however, Srivijaya seemed to have went into decline.

In 732 CE, tentera pimpinan Sanjaya yang dihantar oleh Sri Putera, pemimpin Empayar Tanah Sri Indah Sekebun Bunga telah menawan Sriwijaya yang diperintah oleh Rudra Wikraman. Oleh sebab itu, kuasa Sriwijaya menjadi lemah dan pemerintahnya hanyalah dilantik untuk meneruskan legasi keluarga Sriwijaya tanpa kuasa atau lebih kepada menjadi raja boneka.

Srivijaya's power declined in the 11th century. In 1017, 1025, and 1068, Sriwijaya was invaded by the Chola kings of the Cholamandala kingdom, India resulting in the destruction of trade routes. In the second attack in 1025, king Sri Sanggramawidjaja Tungadewa was captured. In 1088, the Malay kingdom of Jambi, which was formerly under the auspices of Srivijaya made Srivijaya its subject. The strength of the Malay kingdom of Jambi gradually lasted for 2 centuries. In fact since the invasion of the Cholamandala Kingdom of India, the Srivijaya Kingdom has been destroyed. Then the territory of the Srivijaya Kingdom began to be conquered by various Javanese kingdoms, first by the Singhasari kingdom, 1288 and finally by the Majapahit kingdom, 1293.

At the same time, Hinayana Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism spread throughout the Malay archipelago and Palembang became the center of Buddhist learning. At the same time, Srivijaya had lost its monopoly power over the Sino-Indian trade route. With that, Srivijaya's luxury declined. The Singhasari kingdom which was under the auspices of Srivijaya split from it.

Srivijaya

However, while the Srivijaya kingdom has disappeared, the line of its rulers would allegedly survive and in time rule a new empire of their own. As Srivijaya declined, Islam slowly entered Sumatra through Aceh which converted following contacts with Arab and Indian traders. In 1414, the last prince of Srivijaya, Parameswara, converted to Islam and migrated to Malaya where he had founded the Sultanate of Melaka which in turn dominated the Malay peninsula for most of the 15th century. The kings of the Malaysian state of Perak are themselves descendents of Parameswara. If a tenable link between Srivijaya and Parameswara were to be established, it would prove that the sultan of Perak can claim to be heir to an illustrious line of rulers who have dominated southeast Asia for more than a thousand years.

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References[edit | edit source]