According to Stamford Raffles (1781–1826) the Malayan group is peopled by different nations.[1] One of them being the Malay Nation — the Malay is its own nation, speaking the same singular language, and has many states[2] whose nature is a maritime nation.[3]

The Malays are native[4] to the Eastern Isles, settlers,[5] yet their origins are unknown;[6] they are not the original stock[7] as they originated from Tartar.[8] Therefore, there is a probability that Maláyus had derived their names from a character Si Maláyu, which means a wanderer, in a dramatic performance of the people of Borneo.[9] The settlement of the Malays are to be found only on the Malay Peninsular and the shores of the island of Sumatera;[10] with the first established Malay government was in Singapore then Johor.[11] The Malays of the Peninsula are the most pure form of Malays, they are the least adulterated in their character, usages, and manners.[12] The identity of the Malay people are being maritime and commercial people prior to the coming of the Dutch, yet, the Dutch destroyed their identity through oppression.[13]

The Malays had their own wild traditions prior to the coming of Islam and their “true” history began with the coming of Islam.[14] Singapore was once an ancient Capital for the Malay Kings.[15] The first established Malay government was in Singapore then Johor.[16] Malacca was once a flourished kingdom.[17] The Malaca code is the material culture that symbolises the establishment of Islam in Malacca in faith and practice.[18] Pertaining the economy in the Eastern Archipelago, the interior of larger islands are agrarian while the coastal areas are maritime and commercial; the people of the interior collect valuable raw material and sell it to native traders to be sold elsewhere.[19]

When the Europeans came, Malacca was a flourishing kingdom[20] and the Malays were Muslim and their presence was not without impact; the Portuguese broke the power of the native states, the Dutch brought trauma and degenerated the Malays[21] and the British restored the dignity of the Malays.[22] The Europeans were not the only ones to have influenced the Malays, the Indians and Siamese have done so to. There is a subculture in the Malay race, the Melayu-Jawi who are Malays mixed with Indian heritage and the Jawi script that is adopted from the Arabs per coming of Islam as the Malays have no original written language of their own;[23] an ancient Malay Script influenced by Siam.[24]

In colonial history the Malays were evaluated through commerce.[25] They are polite savages[26] yet inherited bad behaviors from the Dutch, such monopoly of trade;[27] and effected by the Dutch to becoming pirates, indolent and apathy due to desperation to which is subsiding quickly due to the British.[28] The superiority of the Malay States are accounted upon their relations with the British,[29] therefore the Malay States of Kedah, Johor, and Malacca are superior Malay States.[30]

[1] “The island of Sumatra, as well as the islands of Jawa, Tana Ugi or Bugis land, (Celebes) Súlu, and the Moluccas, which with Borneo compose what may be properly termed the Malayan groupe, are peopled by nations radically distinct from the Malays, who speak languages entirely different, and use various written characters, original and peculiar to each. These nations are governed by their several laws and institutions; and if we except the state of Menangcabaw on the island of Sumatra, it is on the shores of these islands only, and in the Malay peninsula, that the Malays are to be found.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 103.

[2] “I cannot but consider the Malayu nation, as one people, speaking one language, though -spread over so wide a space, and preserving their character and customs, in all the maritime states lying between the Súlu seas, and the southern ocean, and bounded longitudinally by Sumatra and the western side of Papua or New Guinea.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 103.

[3] “…the Institutions and Regulations of so extensive a maritime nation must be interesting.” Stamford Raffles. Ibid. P. 105.

[4] Letter from Stamford Raffles to Lord Minto, dated 4 May 1811. Sophia Raffles. Memoir of the Life and Public Services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Introduction by John Bastin. P. 31.

[5] “The laws and customs of the Malays, may be considered, either separately, or as they have reference to those of the more ancient and original inhabitants of the eastern islands, with whom they are now so intimately connected. What may be termed, the proper laws and customs of the Malayu nation, as it at present exists, will first be adverted to.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 104.

[6] “Whatever may have been the origin of the Malayu nation, the primary population of these various and extensive islands, could never, according to any natural inference, have proceeded from the Malays, though the reverse may probably have been the case, whatever may have been borrowed from a more foreign source.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 103.

[7] “Whatever may have been the origin of the Malayu nation, the primary population of these various and extensive islands, could never, according to any natural inference, have proceeded from the Malays, though the reverse may probably have been the case, whatever may have been borrowed from a more foreign source.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 103.

[8] “Retaining much of that boldness which marks the Tartar stock, from whence they are supposed to have sprung, they have acquired a softness, not less remarkable in their manners than in their language. Few people attend more to the courtesies of society.” Stamford Raffles. “Introduction.” Sejarah Melayu: The Malay Annals, trans. John Leyden. P. 10.

[9] “In the dramatic performances of the Bálians, Klána Tánjung Púra is the same with Si Maláyu, which means a wanderer, and from which it has been supposed probable that the Maláyus have derived their name.” Stamford Raffles. The History of Java. Vol. 2. P. 96. 571 “…it is on the shores of these islands (Sumatera) only, and in the Malay peninsula, that the Malays are to be found.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 103.

[10] “…it is on the shores of these islands (Sumatera) only, and in the Malay peninsula, that the Malays are to be found.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 103

[11] “Of the Malay Peninsula, the principal states entitled to notice on the western side, are those of Kedeh, Maláca and Johór; and on the eastern, those of Tringáno, Patáni and Pahang. From these I have obtained and collected several copies of the Undang Undang Kedeh, the Undang Un- dang Maláca, and the Undang Undang Johor. The states on the eastern side of the peninsula, with the exception of Patáni, which has been considerably influenced by the Siamese, seem generally to have admitted the superiority of the Malay government, first established at Sín hapúra, and afterwards at Johor.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P.106.

[12] “With respect to the internal regulations of government, police, property, and what in all Malay codes occupies so large a share, slavery: the Malay states on the peninsula have been selected, as well on account of their connection with the English government at Penang and Malaca, as for the still more important reason, in a philosophical point of view, of the Malays, being according to the theory I have laid down, to be found here the least adulterated in their character, usages and manners. They are bounded by the Siamese, to the north, whose encroachments and establishments in the peninsula, as they have from time to time taken place, may easily be defined. The Malays seem here to have occupied a country previously unappropriated; for if we except an inconsiderable race of Caffries, who are occasionally found near the mountains, and a few tribes of the Orang benúa, there does not exist a vestige of a nation anterior to the Malays, in the whole peninsula.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia.  Pp. 107–108.

[13] Stamford Raffles. “Introduction.” Sejarah Melayu: The Malay Annals, trans. John Leyden. P. 7

[14] “He (John Leyden) was aware that in these islands, as well as on the continent of India, the commencement of authentic history was only [found] to be dated from the introduction of Mahometanism but in the wild traditions of the Malays, he thought, he sometimes discovered a glimmering of light, which might perhaps serve to illustrate an earlier period. These glimmerings, he was accustomed to say, were very faint but, in the absence of all other lights, they were worth pursuing; they would, at all events, account for and explain many of the peculiar institutions and customs of the people, and serve to make his countrymen better acquainted with a race who appeared to him to possess the greatest claims on their consideration and attention.” Stamford Raffles. “Introduction.” Sejarah Melayu: The Malay Annals, trans. John Leyden. P. 5.

[15] John Bastin. Raffles and Hastings: Private Exchanges behind the Founding of Singapore. P. 49. “The successors of Sang Nila Utama were Paduka Sri Wikrama, Sri Rama Wikrama, and Sekander Shah, who, being driven out of Singa pura by the Majapáhit forces, afterwards established the city of Malaca. His successor, Mahomed Shah, first embraced Mahomedanism, in the year 1276.” — Malayan Annals. Stamford Raffles. The History of Java. Vol. 2. P. 146.

[16] “Of the Malay Peninsula, the principal states entitled to notice on the western side, are those of Kedeh, Maláca and Johór; and on the eastern, those of Tringáno, Patáni and Pahang. From these I have obtained and collected several copies of the Undang Undang Kedeh, the Undang-Undang Maláca, and the Undang Undang Johor. The states on the eastern side of the peninsula, with the exception of Patáni, which has been considerably influenced by the Siamese, seem generally to have admitted the superiority of the Malay government, first established at Sín hapúra, and afterwards at Johor.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P.106.

[17] “In the following sketch, which defines the laws and usages of the Malays at sea, the Maláca code has been selected for the text, as well on account of the admitted superiority of that once flourishing kingdom…” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 130.

[18] “The Malaca code appears to have been compiled during the reign of Sultan Muhammed Shah, the first sovereign of Maláca, recorded in the Malayu annals to have embraced the Muhammedan faith. This circum-stance is understood to have taken place about the year of the Christian era, 1276. The origin of the Malay code may therefore be considered as nearly coeval with the first establishment of Islamism among the Malays.” On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 130.

[19] Stamford Raffles. “Introduction.” Sejarah Melayu: The Malay Annals, trans. John Leyden. P. 8.

[20] “In the following sketch, which defines the laws and usages of the Malays at sea, the Maláca code has been selected for the text, as well on account of the admitted superiority of that once flourishing kingdom…” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. 130.

[21] Dutch oppression has brought regress to the Malays – Among a people so unsophisticated and so free from prejudices, it is obvious that a greater scope is given to the influence of example; that, in proportion as their intercourse with Europeans encreases and a free commerce adds to their resources, along with the wants which will be created and the luxuries supplied, the humanizing arts of life will also find their way and we may anticipate a much more rapid improvement than in nations who, having once arrived at a high point of civilization and retrograded in the scale, are now hardened by the recollection of what they once were, are brought up in a contempt for every thing beyond their own narrow circle and who have, for centuries, bent under the double load of foreign tyranny and priestly intolerance. Stamford Raffles. “Introduction.” Sejarah Melayu: The Malay Annals, trans. John Leyden. P. 9.

[22] “The valour of Portugal broke the power of the native states, and left them exposed to the more selfish policy of their successors. The Dutch had no sooner established their capital at Batavia than, not satisfied with transferring to it the emporium of Bautain, they conceived the idea of making it the sole and only de- pot of the commerce of the archipelago. Had this object been combined with a liberal policy, and had the local circumstances of Batavia not ob- structed it, the effect might have been different and, instead of the ruin and desolation which ensued throughout a large portion of these islands, they might have advanced in civilization while they contributed to raise the prosperity and support the ascendancy of the Dutch metropolis. But when we advert to the greedy policy which swallowed up the resources of this extensive archipelago in a narrow and rigid monopoly, and that, instead of leaving trade to accumulate, as it had previously done at the natural emporia, it was forced by means of arbitrary and restrictive regu- lations into one which, independent of other disadvantages, soon proved the grave of the majority of those who were obliged to resort to it, we shall find the cause which made it as ruinous to the Dutch as to the peo- ple. By attempting too much, they lost what, under other circumstances might have been turned to advantage; and the native states, deprived of their fair share of commerce, abandoned all attempts and sunk into the comparative insignificance in which they were found at the period when our traders began to navigate those seas from Madras and Bengal. The destruction of the native trade of the archipelago by this withering policy, may be considered as the origin of many of the evils and of all the piracies of which we now complain. A maritime and commercial people, suddenly deprived of all honest employment or the means of respectable subsistence, either sunk into apathy and indolence, or expended their natural energies in piratical attempts to recover, by force and plunder, what they had been deprived of by policy and fraud. In this state of decay, they continued to degenerate, till the appearance of the British traders revived their suppressed and nearly extinguished energies, and awoke to new life the commerce and enterprise of this interesting portion of the globe.” Stamford Raffles. “Introduction.” Sejarah Melayu: The Malay Annals, trans. John Leyden. Pp. 6–7.

[23] “The word Jahwí so much insisted on by the author of the “Rough Sketch,” is the Malay term for any thing mixed or crossed; as when the language of one country is written in the character of another, it is term- ed B’hása Jahwí or mixed language; or when a child is born of a Kiling father and Malay mother, it is called Anak Jahwí, a child of mixed race. Thus the Malayu language, being written in the Arabic character is term- ed B’hasa Jahwi; the Malays, as a nation, distinct from the fixed popu- lation of the eastern islands, not possessing any written character, but what they borrow from the Arabss.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 127.

[24] “It is easy and natural to account for the Malays having with their religion adopted the written character of the Arabs, and I have no hesitation in asserting that neither Malay writings nor inscriptions, in their is present characters, can be traced back to an area of greater antiquity than the invention of the modern Arabic alphabet, or beyond the period at which the great intercourse between the Arabians and eastern nations took place. Admitting, however, that more early writings did exist there is no reason why they may not have been preserved on Sumatra, in the more ancient and original characters of the Battas, the Rejangs or the Lampungs: on Java, and the Celebes, in the characters of the Javanese and Bugis nations, and even on the Malay peninsula, in some modification of the Siamese character. Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 126.

[25] “From the period at which Europeans first visited these islands, their civil history may be summed up in few words: it is included in that of their commerce.” Stamford Raffles. “Introduction.” Sejarah Melayu: The Malay Annals, trans. John Leyden. P. 6.

[26] “In these countries, where there is very little justice to be obtained from regularly established courts, and where an individual considers himself justified in taking the law into his own hands accordingly, the Maláyu is always prepared to avenge with his krís the slightest insult on the spot; but the knowledge that such an immediate appeal is always at hand, prevents the necessity of its often being resorted to, an habitual politeness ensues, and it has often been said, that if the Maláyus are savages, they are by far the most polite savages that we know of. If this effect is produced on the wilder and less civilized Maláyu, and has equal force with the more adventurous and warm-hearted Búgis, it may be easily conceived the Javans have not escaped it.” Stamford Raffles. The History of Java. Vol. 1. P. 393

[27] “A circumstance highly injurious to the commerce of the Malayan nations is the trading monopoly, which in most of the Malayan ports is actually assumed by the chiefs. Of this monopoly there is no trace in the Undang úndang of the Maláyus, or in the fragments of their history which have yet come to light, and it is a question whether this pernicious practice has not been copied from the monopoly regulations of the Dutch.” Stamford Raffles. The History of Java. Vol. 1. P. 262.

[28] Stamford Raffles. “Introduction.” Sejarah Melayu: The Malay Annals, trans. John Leyden. P. 8.

[29] “With respect to the internal regulations of government, police, property, and what in all Malay codes occupies so large a share, slavery: the Malay states on the peninsula have been selected, as well on account of their connection with the English government at Penang and Malaca, as for the still more important reason, in a philosophical point of view, of the Malays, being according to the theory I have laid down, to be found here the least adulterated in their character, usages and manners. They are bounded by the Siamese, to the north, whose encroachments and establishments in the peninsula, as they have from time to time taken place, may easily be defined. The Malays seem here to have occupied a coun- try previously unappropriated; for if we except an inconsiderable race of Caffries, who are occasionally found near the mountains, and a few tribes of the Orang benúa, there does not exist a vestige of a nation anterior to the Malays, in the whole peninsula.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. Pp. 107–108.

[30] The institutions of the smaller states, as of Salingór, Perak and others, may only require notice as far as they differ from the general code of the superior states.” Stamford Raffles. On the Malayu Nation, with a Translation of Its Maritime Institutions. Asiatic Researchers: Comprising History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia. P. 107.