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Concepts of Malay Ethos in Indigenous Malay Writings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Virginia Matheson
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Extract

The aim of this study is to examine indigenous Malay writings in an attempt to discover how Malays expressed their identity as a people. In what context was the term Melayu used; in what types of documents did it appear; and did the concept of “Malayness” vary with time and place?

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , September 1979 , pp. 351 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1979

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References

1 As mentioned in Teeuw, A., “The History of the Malay Language”, BKI 115 (1959): 140, 144Google Scholar, and in Wolters, O.W., The Fall of Srivijaya in Malay History (Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, 1970), pp. 2, 193, fn. 6.Google Scholar

2 For example, in the Nagarakrtagama, see Pigeaud, Th., Java in the Fourteenth Century (The Hague, 1960–63), vol. 3, p. 16CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and vol. 4, p. 30. Also A. Teeuw, “The History of the Malay Language”, p. 146, where he refers to 9th- and 10th-century Kedu and W. Javanese inscriptions in a language similar, but not identical, to Sumatran Malay.

3 M.A.P. Meilink-Roelofsz quotes a few conflicting population estimates for early 16th-century Malacca, and suggests a median figure of 40,000–50,000, without stating how many of them were Malays. Asian Trade and European Influence (The Hague, 1962), p. 339, fn. 11.

4 Prof. O.W. Wolters has not been thus daunted, op. cit., chap. 4.

5 Ismail Hussein sees the increasing use of the printing press as one of the main 19th-century influences on Malay literature, in “The Study of Traditional Malay Literature”, JMBRAS 39, 2 (1966): 7.Google Scholar

6 For arguments supporting a later date of composition, see Roolvink, R., “The Variant Versions of the Malay Annals”, BKI 123 (1967): 311.Google Scholar

7 Ahmad, Kassim, Hikayat Hang Tuah (Kuala Lumpur, 1964), p. xiiGoogle Scholar.

8 The early sections of the text may have been in existence much earlier.

9 See Hussein, Ismail, “Hikayat Negeri Johor” (M.A. diss., Kuala Lumpur, 1962)Google Scholar.

10 The Bugis are not excluded from the record, but priority is given to events which concern the Malays. For further details see Andaya, Leonard Y., The Kingdom of Johor, 1641–1728 (Kuala Lumpur. 1975), pp. 9–10Google Scholar.

11 PSNJoh, p. 61. fn. 15.

12 MMel, p. 185. A plausible explanation of the origin of the title Misa Melayu is offered by SirMaxwell, William in JSBRAS 14 (1884): 310Google Scholar, where he states that the Javanese romance, Misa Perba Jaya, had been translated into Malay, and was very popular in Perak, where it was generally known as Misa Jawa. Raja Culan's text had been compared by its admirers to the Javanese work, and thus came to be called Misa Melayu.

13 See Andaya, B.W., “Perak, the Abode of Grace: A Study of an Eighteenth Century Malay State”, (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1975), chap. 4.Google Scholar

14 See Andaya, B.W. “The Installation of the First Sultan of Selangor in 1766”, JMBRAS 47, 1 (1974): 48–54Google Scholar.

15 HP, p. 60.

16 Ibid., p. 66.

17 For further notes on authorship, see HP, pp. 61–66.

18 Ibid., pp. 76, 79, 112.

19 A few familiar motifs do appear, although they do not feature as prominently as in other texts, e.g., the marriage of a bamboo prince with a foam princess, HMM, p. 82.

20 See Matheson, Virginia, “Tuhfat al-Nafis: A 19th Century Malay History Critically Examined” (Ph.D. diss., Monash University, 1973)Google Scholar.

21 Skinner, C., “Abdullah's Voyage to the East Coast Seen through Contemporary Eyes”, JMBRAS 39, 2 (1966): 32Google Scholar, notes the popularity of KPAbd which sold extremely well. But who were the buyers?

22 KPAbd, pp. 15, 32, and HAbd, p. 426.

23 HAbd, p. 427.

24 Ibid., p. 20.

25 KPAbd, pp. 88, 93, 14, 16, and HAbd, pp. 226, 419, 425–26.

26 KPAbd, p. 94.

27 Fang, Liaw Yock, Undang-Undang Melaka, Bibliotheca Indonesica no. 13 (The Hague, 1976)Google Scholar, and Rigby, J. (trans.) and Wilkinson, R.J. (ed.), “The Ninety-Nine Laws of Perak” in Readings in Malay Adat Laws, ed. M.B. Hooker (Singapore, 1970), pp. 57–82Google Scholar.

28 See List of Abbreviations, Peribahasa.

29 Hikayat Malim Deman (Kuala Lumpur, 1965).

30 It may be that with further research the implications of the peribahasa will be better understood. E.g., Chee, Tham Seong, in his book Malays and Modernization: A Sociological Interpretation (Singapore, 1977), p. 256Google Scholar, fn. 11, stresses the importance of differentiating the origin of Malay sayings, particularly whether they are Minangkabau or non-Minangkabau. Many Malay sayings emphasizing rationality and rational behaviour are of Minangkabau origin.

31 The Adat Raja2 Melayu (Kuala Lumpur, 1964), pp. 76–77, explains Melayu as coming from “melayukan dirinya”, that is, to behave modestly, humbly, and self-effacingly.

32 SM Raffles, p. 54.

33 References to SiGuntang occur in SM Raffles, pp. 101, 103, 123, and SM Shellabear, p. 303.

34 The text of SM Abdullah has concluded before this passage, and it is absent in SM Shellabear.

35 SM Raffles, p. 57.

36 See Ras, J.J., Hikayat Bandjar (The Hague, 1968), p. 246Google Scholar. In one of the predecessor kingdoms to Bandjar, only the royal kinsmen could repair the ruler's roof, i.e., be above his head. If a lesser person went physically above him, i.e., symbolically surpassed him, he might lose his supernatural power (hilang tuahnya).

37 Apart from the introduction, borrowed from SM, which is not considered here as an integral part of the text proper.

38 E.g., TN, pp. 101, 102, 103, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 134, 136, 143, 212, 239.

39 A. Teeuw, op. cit., p. 115, 155, criticized R. Winstedt and C.C. Brown for regarding Johor Malay as standard. Abdullah, writing a century earlier, should be chastized.

40 For a discussion of the impact of the Alexander motif on Malay historiographical writings, see Brakel's, L.F.“Problems of Wahrheit and Dichtung: Islamic Historiography in Malay”(Paper presented to the A.S.A.A. conference,University of New South Wales, May 1978), pp. 15–16Google Scholar. In most Malay court texts, the Alexander myth is united with the Malay myth of origin, which relates the union of representatives of the upper and lower halves of the cosmos. In HHT, the Alexander myth is absent and the Malay myth of the origin stands alone.

41 Liaw Yock Fang, op. cit., pp. 64–65. The nucleus of the first part of the code derives from a decree of Sultan Muhammad Syah of Malacca (1424–44), p. 32.

42 See Rigby, op. cit., p. 57.

43 For more details on the function of the foam princess and the bamboo prince, see J.J. Ras, op. cit., pp. 81–99.

44 A mid–19th-century text from Riau, published by A.F. von de Wall, “Beknopte Geschiedenis van het Vorstenhuis en de Rijksinstellingen van Lingga en Rijau”, TBB (1891): 308, also records that the first Malay ruler came from Bukit SiGuntang. The text published by von de Wall is very similar to Cod. Or 1999. See Matheson, V. “The Tuhfat al-Nafts: Structure and Sources”, BKI 127 (1971): 392Google Scholar.

45 See Andaya, B.W., “The Installation of the First Sultan of Selangor in 1766”, JMBRAS 47, 1, (1974): 56, Fnn. 67, 68.Google Scholar

46 Hikayat Malim Demon, p. 51.

47 B.W. Andaya has identified this as Sahilan, a mountain inland on the Kampar river. It would be interesting to know more about 18th-century Minangkabau links with SiGuntang.

48 A.F. von de Wall, op. cit., p. 316.

49 This passage is absent in the Romanized text of TN, where it should be on p. 9. It is present in R.O. Winstedt's Jawi text, JMBRAS 10 (1932).

50 It may seem a little inconsistent that the TN considers Siak to have Malay kings. The TN seems to accept tacitly that Raja Kechil, described as the first ruler of Siak, was descended from Johor, see TN, pp. 13, 14, 15, 71, 152.

51 Gullick, J.M., Indigenous Political Systems of Western Malaya (London, 1958), p. 25.Google Scholar

52 Examples were cited earlier; in HHT, Inderapura regarded Malacca as the home of true Malay culture; in HP, Johor adat was considered adat Melayu, and in the 19th century, Abdullah judged the purity of bahasa Melayu by its relationship to Johor Malay. For another example see Wolters, op. cit., p. 179.

53 It was stated earlier that the term Melayu might be another way of expressing the separateness of the ruling groups in Malay society, another larangan prohibited to ordinary people.

54 Journal of the Historical Society, University of Malaya 2 (1963/1964): 1–9.Google Scholar