The dominant Indon "Malay" aka Javanese are the kind of people I respect. despite converting to Islam, not too many adopt the funny Arab names like Ahmad, or Ali.
First of ALL : We Are Not Malays.
Malays are restricted to Malaysia and some area in Sumatra. other than that, calling us Malays is like calling Filipinos as Malays.
Malay race - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indonesian context
In Indonesia, the term "Malay" (Indonesian: Melayu) is more associated with ethnic Malay than 'Malay race'. It is mostly because Indonesia has other native Indonesian ethnicities that already consolidated and established their culture and identity who believed they had traditions and languages that very different from coastal Malay people. Especially Minang and Javanese do not identify themselves as Malay. Thus Malay are nothing than just one of myriad Indonesian ethnicities sharing common status with Javanese (including their sub-ethnic such as Osing & Tenggerese), Sundanese, Minangkabau, Batak tribes, Bugis, Dayak, Acehnese, Balinese, Torajan, etc. The more acceptable umbrella term today to describe this commonality is Austronesian, and within the perspective of Indonesian nationhood, as Native Indonesians (Pribumi).
The term 'Malay race' was first coined by foreign scientists in colonial times. During the
Dutch East Indies era, natives were grouped under the category
inlanders or
pribumi to describe native Indonesians in contrast to Eurasian
Indo people and Asian immigrants (Chinese, Arab and Indian origin). The concept of the Malay race shared in Malaysia and to some degree, the Philippines, also influenced and might be shared by some Indonesians in the spirit of inclusivity and solidarity, commonly coined as
puak Melayu or
rumpun Melayu. However, the idea and the degree of 'Malayness' also varies in Indonesia, from covering the vast area of Austronesian people to confining it only within the
Jambi area where the name 'Malayu' was first recorded. Today, the common identity that binds Malay people together is their
language (with variants of dialects that exist among them),
Islam and their culture.
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you should've respect all Indonesians as equals. FYI, wahhabi names or any other religion names are simply forced to adopt. we are Austronesians first before anything else. we are using clan names, while other ethincs uses their own native names (as they don't have clans, like the Javanese). native names for example :
Bataknese : Poltak (Given name) Sipahutar (Clan name)
Padangnese : Sotion (Given name) Ardjanggi (Clan name). btw, Yusof Ishak is also from Padang.
Papuan : Silas Papare (no clan name)
and others.
the further away from Arabia one goes, the more peaceful it gets. Good to see Indonesia embraced Islam but kept their old tradition and culture alive. There's also this:
South Asia also has a unique barelvi sufi culture but wahhabism/deobandis are on the rise, not good.
the old Rupiah prints has Mandala and Arjuna in it
and yes i agree that we should get ourself faaaar away from the wahhabs/arabs