THE MALAY ORIGIN: REWRITE ITS HISTORY

This paper is a humble attempt to reconstruct an appropriate premise on the research of the Malay origin. Sources of writing are those material which already being utilized by existing writings on the topic but with some evaluations. Moreover, the construction of the premise are prime sources, namely, ancient writing records since early Christian era and indigenous classical writings. It is argued that the origin of the Malay could not be traced by using material which had being utilized by the existing writings because they all invalid. That is why the existing writings are merely speculations which make no sense. This paper suggests that the search for Malay origin could not be traced by utilizing ancient languages (Austroasia and Austronesia), archaeological and anthropological material, physical-appearance, fossil and genetic. This paper suggests that the search for the Malay origin should be based on historical sources. This is because the Malay is an ‘invented-nation’ created since 18th century from the development of an identity which was firstly limited among the royal house of Malacca Sultanate. Their imagine communities developed since after the last Sultanate royal blood of Melaka Sultanate ended in 17^th century. Its development was motivated by the Islamization dynamism.