Take note of the transition of script used by Malays then to intrepert writings. Austronesian started out with ‘rencong’ Indian script, written on bamboo leaves and stem.
The script was followed by two other Indian script; ‘kawi’ and ‘pallava’. Kawi script is still being used in parts of Indonesia infact
The earliest writing found of the Malays dated back to the 4th century, that’s some 1,600 years back. This stone writing used the ‘pallava’ script and thus in Sanskrit. This is known as the ‘Old Malay’
Proof of ‘Old Malay’ existence can be found up to the 7th century where stone inscriptions with such script writings can be found in Palembang, Indonesia.
The academics have found the earliest definition of the term Malay can be inscribed in Chinese writings in fact, dated back to 644 CE. This writing mentioned of a group of Malay or ‘Mo-Lo-Yue’ as the writing indicated, who was sent to tribute the Chinese Emperor
more coming soon …
I always find it a pleasure to read stuff related to the history of Malay and the likes of it. At de end of de day, one question which often sticks at de back of my mind is “So do Malays exactly HAVE an ‘identity”, since the malay race is a mixture of ‘many other’ races?” But i guess ultimately one cant deny that Malay history is indeed very rich.
I used to be able to read Jawi quite well (my fav subject during my years in void-deck religious classes). Occasionally i got nonMalay frens praising me, saying i so ‘terror’ to be able to “read arabic”. (by de way, pardon de pun on ‘terror’). I have learnt to give them simple explaination, such as saying that a Jawi sentence is a Malay sentence written using Arabic alphabets. But of course, people being people, many wud still be confused abt de difference between Jawi and Arabic.
Now i tink i can still read Jawi but a teeny weeny bit…..
we indeed have a history, even if such theories by academics are wrong, well we can always looks forward to our now cuture itself, but i do believe in such hypothesis that we came from the north, bang-bang reproduce, migrate, campur2 jadi melayu now :)
Eh that’s good that you know jawi … not many people know
yay for us!! we are not only multiracial.. but we are multitalented.. and multilingual.. hahahaha.. horaaaaay for us.. but i wonder why we havent had any famous malay inventors and whatnots… hahahaha..
and OH on a jawi note…i can read.. but i discovered i cant spell for nuts.. but then again its the same with my malay.. hahaha.. on my recent trip back.. my uncle and i were playing word games.. every wrd he spelt in jawi.. i had to say what it was.. i discovered i cud only figure it out quicker when i wrote it down.. HAHAHA :|
i think we’re MULTI in many facets!
i think such inventors very much depends on a nation intiative which encourage such prospects
we focus much on biomedical and last time manufac industry, we’ve so many engineers and lab techs
hay you know jawi, not many people can say they do!
Hi there Uncle Sha. This is my first ever stop at your blog and this article happens to be my first read. I must say that is it a very interesting read. I for one never have thought or even heard that we Malays come from China. I thought all this while, like almost everybody else all over came from the African continent ‘directly’.
I am certainly no expert in talking about languages but to me Malay language is a mixture of all sorts of languages. Different centuries will bring in different influences to our Malay language and eventually evolves to what it is today. In my opinion, this will only enrich a language rather than degrade it. It is unfortunate that with the modernisation and globalisation of the world, it has somewhat effected our language. Please dont get me wrong here. I am all for the changes and moving forward. However, it is also in my opinion that we should preserve the Malay language our ancestors used. It is our obligation to preserve the ‘original’ Malay language with its richness, colour and grandeur. I find it rather sad that the younger generations (inclding me) do not or are not able to speak or use as many Malay vocabularies that our forefathers did even 1 or 2 generations back. But hey, I am not blaming anyone. Its just that way it is. Oh gosh I am rambling here. What I am trying to say is, it is worth the while to try and learn and speak and use those rather ‘old’ & ‘rare’ seldom heard/used words in our daily conversation. Which is what I am doing at the moment with my frinds and siblings. I must say it is rather challenging but fun!
On the Jawi point, here in Brunei, the government is doing quite a fair bit to keep the Jawi literate percentage up by having Jawi lessons as part of the curiculum at schools and also having business signages to be in Jawi as well as Rumi. I just wish there is a Jawi newspaper or at least a section that I could practice reading on.
How about it Uncle Sha? Up for the challenge? A Jawi post? Sure would make it an even more interesting read! hahah
Sorry for the extra long extended version post. Selamat Berpuasa to you all.
Wassalam
Apa Khabar
My Jawi is very rusty so I’ll pass on that Awang
Still I hope you find this insightful, research done by academics. This is the general consensus of their findings and still bear much studying to be unearth
History is always open to debate
I’ll update if there’s any new developments
I am recently doing a research on Malay culture. Does anybody know what is the difference between jawi and arabic language? Are they written in totally the same way? Is there any slight difference in the way or style of writing between jawi and arabic script?
My other question is, what is the language or script used by Malays before the arabic script? Is there an original malay language that is written in Malay’s own style?
I’m a lecturer from Malaysia and doing a research about Melayu. Actually the first word about Melayu indicated by Ptolemy’s map in 150 circa (AD). The name indicated in the map is “Malaeokolon” which mean the last land located in Johor/Kota Tinggi where the person wants to go out from Malay land. Its near to the Palandas River (Sg. Johor) and Sabana emporium (Singapore). This is just the beginning…I allow anybody try to study it.
sangat malang bagi bangsa melayu yang mengatakan melayu itu berasal dari China…profesor emeritus khoo kay kim sendiri( bangsa cina malaysia) telah menidakkan sejarah yang mengatakan melayu berasal dari China.
sangat malang juga bagi bangsa melayu(real melayu=dari tanah semenanjung=tanah melayu) yang tidak mahir membaca apa lagi menulis jawi. satu kerugian yang amat besar, dan memalukan. sedangkan satu masa dulu tulisan Jawi bersifat lingua franca. pihak penjajah dulu-dulu pun menggunakan tulisan Jawi sebagai alat perhubungan dalam hal-hal rasmi kerajaan=perhubungan dengan raja/sultan. malah ratusan manuskrip dalam tulisan jawi tersimpan rapi dinegara2 barat. orang MELAYU ADA TULISANNNYA sendiri….tapi sayang generasi baru melayu tidak kenal tulisannya sendiri…malah bangga mengatakan…saya cuma tahu Jawi sikit2…(bikin panas dengar org Melayu cakap mcm tu..) sedih…! paling memalukan…kata-kata ini “and OH on a jawi note…i can read(alhamduliilah budak as long boleh la baca Jawi…syukur la nak!.. )but i discovered i cant spell for nuts.. (astaga…ketara tidak memperbanyakkan perbendaharaan kata dalam Jawi…ye la telebih belajar BI) but then again its the same with my malay..(ini la yang paling memalukan…seperti bangga gile dia lebih pandai BI, ye la…kan…bak kata-kata org bijak pandai: “I LOOK STUPID WHEN I SPEAK ENGLISH”….) hahaha”. Mantan PM, Dr. M (yang aku rasa kemahiran 2RW=2M dia lebih hebat dari budak ne…)kata ” I THINK IN ENGLISH WHEN I WANT TO SPEAK OR WRITE IN ENGLISH. I THINK IN MALAY WHEN I WANT TO TALK, WRITE OR DISCUSS IN MALAY’….dalam juga masksud Tun ne. manusia ne kan…selalu benar berbangga dengan sesuatu benda yang tanpa kita sedar atau tidak menampakkan kebodohan diri sendiri…terutama apabila berkata-kata…rasanya sebab tu la Tun cakap i think in malay when i want to talk, write or discuss….”tidak lengkap dan sempurna kemahiran berbahasa seseorang itu, sekiranya dia tidak mahir membaca dan menulis….mungkin dalam bahasa inggeris anda berjaya…tapi bagaimana dengan BM dan Jawi=dua kemahiran yang menggunakan dua jenis tulisan iaitu Rumi dan Jawi dalam satu bahasa…iaitu “bahasa Melayu”….sudah lengkap ka pakej anda? cuba bayangkan jika satu hari nanti ada seorang mat salleh tanya…how to spell / translate this words/ sentences to bahasa melayu(dalam erti kata bahasa melayu yang betul dari segi nahu/tatabahasa)/Jawi Scripts(dalam erti kata “ejaan jawi yang telah disempurnakan)…hehehe kalau tidak menguasai sepenuhnya…masak kita! sebab bangsa orang putih sifatnya gemar mengkaji…maunya ‘mamat’ tue tgh buat research pasal bahasa( BM/ Jawi)…rasanya ‘dak’ ne akan dijadikan sebagai salah satu ‘subjek populasi ‘yang menjadi bukti kajian terhadap sejauh mana masyarakat melayu malaysia menguasai bahasa ibundanya sendiri dan tulisan ibundanya…(Jawi)….