Debate on origins of Malays / A Murad Merican

THE origins of the Malays have always generated interest and excitement in popular, academic and policy circles. Over recent decades, the discourse has taken a turn toward Malay origins, ethnicity and identity. Much of it a discourse in deconstruction. The new media has much induced this with one strand of the debate, dismissing the new theory on Malay origins as false simply because of the allegation that it lacks the rigour of scholarly examination, and has not lent it itself to critical and public debate. The dominant discourse identifies the Malay as a product of centuries of hybridisation, casting doubt on origins of the name “Melayu”, and almost always coming from both the Malays and non-Malays in Malaysia that the ancestors of the Malays have “come from somewhere else” or “have escaped/ran from some place”. “Maleu-kolon” is the first known description of the Malays. This comes from second century Graeco-Egyptian scholar, geographer and map maker Ptolemy.