Melayu

So, a few weeks ago, a few of us, were assigned by the big boss to do an assignment on "What is Melayu/Malay" and who is "Hang Tuah".

Working in a Malay environment, I thought this assignment will be kacang punya kerja. Oh boy, was I wrong. This assignment was a tough cookie. There was no proper guideline to this assignment. It was practically our opinion, on "What is Melayu?"

Being a Malay myself, I really had to dig up history on my own race, which honestly I've little knowledge about. So it was a big opportunity on searching up facts and history about the race I belong to and I lack knowledge of.

All I know is that I have a "Jawa" blood, "Bugis" blood and some "chinese blood" in me. That's all. So I did research (which I've not done for a long long time) on the history and origins of orang melayu. I actually learned alot from this research.

I've learned that there's a whole different groups of Malays that's dispersed around this world. That's why we all look alike. Hahaha....

I've also learned Malays around the world come from different religions, not just islam. And the malay language is one of the most ancient language in the world. *Pat's myself on the back*

So after so much headache and so much research I've decided to send my finalised work. Here it goes:

"After doing so much research I've come to conclude, that Melayu consists of different groups, and there many different types of melayu. There's a small group Melayu ethnic group in Texas, USA, Hawaii, and other pacific islands.

There's also Melayu living in Indonesia, Cambodia, South Thailand, Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines and Oceania.

The Malay language is a member of the Austronesian language. It's one of the most ancient language in the world. You can read more here,

Around the world, Melayu generally have different religions, ie christian, budhism, hindus, and of course Islam.

Since we're living in Malaysia, I'm going to elaborate, the Malaysian Melayu.

Here in Malaysia, the Malays or Melayu make up the majority of the population. (that's what they say). The Malays here are Muslims. (The majority of them). Malays according to some resources in the world web are, "lemah lembut", "sawo matang", and are medium in height.

They also stick to the "adat strongly" as the saying goes "Biar Mati Anak Jangan Mati Adat". I don't really know what that means as I've not really research the meaning behind the peribahasa.

But as far as I'm concerned us Malays stick strongly to traditions and culture. It's part of our blood. That's what they say.

I.e my grandmother never lets us anak dara sit on the stairs or between doorways, she says nanti kalau beranak susah, anak tak mahu keluar. And us youngsters have to always bend down when passing by elders.

These are just some of the adats that my grandparents have taught me.

Religion also play a major role. We sometimes follow the sunnah and we sometimes follow the adat, for example, the tahlil is actually bid'ah. According to the real islamic teaching, tahlil is not encouraged as we are following other culture. I guess the tahlil is an adat...kot.

In conclusion, the Malays in general are from a big ethnic group that have spread across the world. Malays in Malaysia (which originated from Yunan, china and some of us have jawa blood and in indian blood in us.), have a strong belief in the adat and agama. These two beliefs plays a major role in our lives. And some of these adats are dying as people from the younger generation aren't practicing anymore.

I hope my explanation makes sense. These are just my opinion. "

That was my piece of work. I wrote that in 20 minutes. Hahaha...but again that just my opinion, on what is Malay. To tell you the truth, it was one of the most interesting research I've done. I quite enjoyed it. I learned alot while doing so.