Proto-Malay

Indigenous ethnic group of the Malay Archipelago From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term Proto-Malay, which translates to Melayu Asli (aboriginal Malay) or Melayu Purba (ancient Malay) or Melayu Tua (old Malay),^[5] refers to Austronesian speakers who moved from mainland Asia, to the Malay Peninsula and Malay Archipelago in a long series of migrations between 2500 and 1500 BCE, before that of the Deutero-Malays about a thousand years later.^[6] The Proto-Malays have ancestry of the first humans living in Southeast Asia.^[7]

Indonesiac. 13,000,000–15,000,000 (2010)^[1]^[2]

Malaysia65,189 (2010)^[3]^[4]

Quick facts Malaysia: Melayu Asli, Melayu PurbaIndonesia: Melayu Tua, Melayu Kuno, Regions with significant populations ...

Proto-Malay
Malaysia: Melayu Asli, Melayu Purba Indonesia: Melayu Tua, Melayu Kuno
A group of Proto-Malay Aboriginal people in Behrang, Perak, Malaysia, 1906.
Regions with significant populations
Malay Archipelago:
Indonesia	c. 13,000,000–15,000,000 (2010)^[1]^[2]
Malaysia	65,189 (2010)^[3]^[4]
Languages
Malayic languages, Semelaic languages, Batak languages, Dayak languages, Indonesian language, Malaysian language, English language
Religion
Animism, Islam, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Senoi (Semaq Beri people, Mah Meri people), Orang laut, Malays (ethnic group), Native Indonesians, Malagasy people

The Proto-Malays are believed to have been seafarers knowledgeable in oceanography who possessed advanced fishing as well as basic agricultural skills. Over the years, they settled in various places and adopted various customs and religions as a result of acculturation and inter-marriage with most of the people they come in contact with, such as the Semang and Senoi peoples.

Origin

The Encyclopedia of Malaysia: Early History has pointed out three theories of the origin of the Proto-Malay:^[8]

The Yunnan theory, Mekong river migration (first published in 1889). The theory of Proto-Malay originating from Yunnan is supported by R.H Geldern, J.H.C Kern, J.R Foster, J.R Logen, Slametmuljana and Asmah Haji Omar. Other evidence that supports this theory includes: stone tools found at Malay Archipelago which are analogous to Central Asian tools; similarity between Malay and Assam customs; and the fact that the Malay and Cambodian languages are kindred languages because the ancestral home of Cambodians originated at the source of Mekong River.
The seafarers theory (first published in 1965).
The Taiwan theory (first published in 1997). For more information, see Austronesian peoples and Austronesian languages.

Some historical linguists have concluded that there is scant linguistic basis for a Proto-/Deutero-Malay split.^[9] The findings suggests that the Proto-Malay and the Deutero-Malay peoples possibly come from the same origin. Previous theories suggested that the Deutero-Malays came in a second wave of migration, around 300 BCE, compared to the arrival of the Proto-Malays who came much earlier.^[10]

Geographical regions

Indonesia

Ernest-Théodore Hamy (1896) first identified 3 Proto-Malay groups that are found in Sumatra and Borneo, Indonesia:^[11]^[12]

Both Koentjaraningrat and Alfred Russel Wallace's (1869) research also concluded that most of the Moluccans came under the Proto-Malay classification with a admixture with Melanesian.^[13] However, António Mendes Correia's findings re-classified the Timorese^[14] in Alfred Russel Wallace's ethnological chart as predominantly Proto-Malay.^[15] This is evidenced by the striking similarity in the architectural designs of traditional houses in Lospalos, East Timor with the Batak and Toraja people.^[16] In Sulawesi, not only are the Toraja people are regarded as part of the ancient Proto-Malay, but their neighboring Minahasan people as well who have migrated to the island in the megalithic period.^[17] In Sumatra, a little known pygmy tribe called the Mante people of Aceh are regarded as Proto-Malay and are thought to be extinct.^[18]

Other ethnic groups that are closely related to the Proto-Malay are such as the Nage people from Flores, which are considered a mixture of Proto-Malay and Melanesian^[19]^[20] and the Sakai people from Riau, which were originally pure Proto-Malay until later they were forced into the interior by the Deutero-Malays which led to their mixing with the Negritos.^[21] Off the west coast of Bengkulu, Sumatra Island, the indigenous people of Enggano Island known as the Enggano people are considered largely Proto-Malays.^[22]

Malaysia

In Malaysia, the Proto-Malay are classified under the native Orang Asli group of people in the Peninsular Malaysia. They are officially known as:^[23]

Other ethnic groups outside of the Peninsular Malaysia that are also regarded as Proto-Malay apart from the Orang Asli people group are such as the Rungus people.^[25]

The Philippines

In modern scholarship, the classification of Philippine ethnic groups as "Proto-Malay" is considered an obsolete anthropological category. Contemporary research in genetics, linguistics, and archaeology instead places the settlement of the Philippines within the broader context of the Austronesian expansion.^[26]

Modern scientific consensus

According to the out of Taiwan model, Austronesian-speaking populations migrated south into the Philippines approximately 4,000–5,000 years ago. These groups did not arrive in distinct, sequential "waves" as theorized in the early 20th century, but through complex, multi-directional maritime networks.^[27]

A 2021 genomic study by Larena et al. demonstrated that Cordilleran populations (such as the Bontoc and Ifugao) possess high levels of basal Austronesian ancestry. This research indicates these groups are genetically distinct from the populations historically labeled as "Malay" in the southern archipelago.^[28]

Groups formerly categorized as "Proto-Malay" speak languages belonging to the Northern Luzon languages and other Philippine languages branch. These languages evolved independently over millennia and are not "mixtures" of Malay and other ethnic groups.^[29]

Historical perspectives and misconceptions

20th-century "Waves of Migration" theory

In the early 20th century, anthropologist H. Otley Beyer popularized the "Waves of Migration" theory. This model categorized Philippine ethnic groups based on perceived physical traits and arrival sequences, often using the 1918 Census of the Philippine Islands (published 1921) as a framework.^[30] Under this now-discredited theory, several groups were labeled as "Proto-Malay" or "mixtures":

Mangyan people and Manguangan
Bontoc, Ifugao, and Tinggian (historically described as "mainly Malay")
Apayao, Teduray, and Batak (historically described as mixtures of Proto-Malay and Native Indonesian or Negrito)

Modern scholars view this classification as part of the historiographical development of Philippine anthropology rather than an accurate ethnographic or biological description.^[31]

References

[1]
Estimation based on the identification made by Ernest-Théodore Hamy, Koentjaraningrat and Alfred Russel Wallace
[2]
Fenneke Sysling (2016). Racial Science and Human Diversity in Colonial Indonesia. NUS Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-98-147-2207-0.
[3]
Kirk Endicott (2015). Malaysia's Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli. NUS Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-99-716-9861-4.
[4]
"POPULATION STATISTICS",
[5]
Bani Noor Muchamad (2007). Anatomi rumah bubungan tinggi. Pustaka Banua. p. 2. ISBN 978-97-933-8133-6.
[6]
Neil Joseph Ryan (1976). A History of Malaysia and Singapore. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 4 & 5. ISBN 0-19-580302-7
[7]
"Geneticist clarifies role of Proto-Malays in human origin". Malaysiakini. 24 January 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
[8]
Dato' Dr Nik Hassan Suhaimi & Nik Abdul Rahman, ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of Malaysia: Early History. Archipelago Press. ISBN 978-981-3018-42-6.
[9]
"Karl Anderbeck, "Suku Batin - A Proto-Malay People? Evidence from Historical Linguistics", The Sixth International Symposium on Malay/Indonesian Linguistics, 3 - 5 August 2002, [[Bintan Island]], [[Riau]], Indonesia". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
[10]
Steven L. Danver (2015). Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues. Routledge. ISBN 978-13-174-6399-3.
[11]
Ernest Théodore Hamy (1896). Les races Malaiques et Americaines. L'Anthropologie.
[12]
Fenneke Sysling (2016). Racial Science and Human Diversity in Colonial Indonesia. NUS Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-98-147-2207-0.
[13]
Koentjaraningrat (2007). Villages in Indonesia. Equinox Publishing. p. 129. ISBN 978-97-937-8051-1.
[14]
Fenneke Sysling (2016). Racial Science and Human Diversity in Colonial Indonesia. NUS Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-98-147-2207-0.
[15]
Ricardo Roque (2010). Headhunting and Colonialism: Anthropology and the Circulation of Human Skulls in the Portuguese Empire, 1870-1930. Springer. p. 175. ISBN 978-02-302-5133-5.
[16]
George Junus Aditjondro (1994). East Timor: an Indonesian intellectual speaks out. Australian Council for Overseas Aid. p. 29. ISBN 09-098-3161-0.
[17]
Joan Erickson (1982). Southeast Asia. Lane Publishing Company. p. 156. ISBN 03-760-6764-0.
[18]
Ferdian Ananda Majni (28 March 2017). "Mante, Suku Kuno Aceh yang Terlupakan". Media Indonesia. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
[19]
Fenneke Sysling (2016). Racial Science and Human Diversity in Colonial Indonesia. NUS Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-98-147-2207-0.
[20]
Reginald Ruggles Gates (1948). Human ancestry from a genetical point of view. Harvard Univ. Press. p. 354.
[21]
Parsudi Suparlan (1995). Orang Sakai di Riau: masyarakat terasing dalam masyarakat Indonesia: kajian mengenai perubahan dan kelestarian kebudayaan Sakai dalam proses transformasi mereka ke dalam masyarakat Indonesia melalui Proyek Pemulihan Pembinaan Kesejahteraan Masyarakat Terasing, Departemen Sosial, Republik Indonesia. Yayasan Obor Indonesia. p. 40. ISBN 97-946-1215-4.
[22]
Charles Alfred Fisher (1964). South-east Asia: a social, economic, and political geography. Methuen. p. 240. OCLC 489670953.
[23]
Jean Michaud, Margaret Byrne Swain & Meenaxi Barkataki-Ruscheweyh (2016). Historical Dictionary of the Peoples of the Southeast Asian Massif. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 304. ISBN 978-14-422-7279-8.
[24]
Geoffrey Benjamin & Cynthia Chou, ed. (2002). Tribal Communities in the Malay World: Historical, Cultural and Social Perspectives. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 22. ISBN 98-123-0167-4.
[25]
Bulletin - Institute for Medical Research, Issues 19-20. Institute for Medical Research. 1983. p. 29.
[26]
Bellwood, Peter (2017). First Islanders: Prehistory and Survival in Island Southeast Asia. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1119251552.
[27]
Blust, Robert (2013). The Austronesian Languages. Asia-Pacific Linguistics.
[28]
Larena, Maximilian; McKenna, James (2021). "Multiple populations of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Island Southeast Asia derive from a common ancestral pool". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 118 (13). doi:10.1073/pnas.2022132118. PMID 33753492.
[29]
Reid, Lawrence A. (2006). The Austronesian Languages of the Philippines. University of Hawai'i Press.
[30]
Villamor, Ignacio (1921). Census of the Philippine Islands Taken Under the Direction of the Philippine Legislature in the Year 1918, Volume 2. Bureau of Printing.
[31]
Scott, William Henry (1984). Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History. New Day Publishers. ISBN 971-10-0226-4.

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