This new appraisal of their relationship offers groundbreaking new insights into the way in which the Malaysian and Singapore states see both themselves and each other.

This simulating new reading of constructions of ethnicity in Malaysia and Singapore is an important contribution to understanding the powerful linkages between ethnicity, religious reform, identity and nationalism in multi-ethnic Southeast Asia.

The Malay World (Alam Melayu), spanning the Malay Peninsula, much of Sumatra, and parts of Borneo, has long contained within it a variety of populations. Most of the Malays have been organized into the different kingdoms (kerajaan Melayu) from which they have derived their identity. But the territories of those kingdoms have also included tribal peoples - both Malay and non-Malay - who have held themselves apart from those kingdoms in varying degrees. In the last three decades, research on these tribal societies has aroused increasing interest.This book explores the ways in which the character of these societies relates to the Malay kingdoms that have held power in the region for many centuries past, as well as to the modern nation-states of the region. It brings together researchers committed to comparative analysis of the tribal groups living on either side of the Malacca Straits - in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. New theoretical and descriptive approaches are presented for the study of the social and cultural continuities and discontinuities manifested by tribal life in the region.

This book brings together a group of international scholars, inspired by the scholarly perspective of Australian philologist Ian Proudfoot, who look at calendars and time, royal myths, colonial expeditions, printing, propaganda, theater, art, Islamic manuscripts, and many more aspects of Malayan history.

Malay seals originate from those parts of maritime Southeast Asia long connected by political, economic, and cultural networks; the lingua franca of the Malay language; and the faith of Islam. Seals make up an important element in the manuscript and literary culture of the region. Defined as seals from Southeast Asia or used by Southeast Asians, with inscriptions in Arabic script, Malay seals constitute a treasure trove of data that can throw light on myriad aspects of the history of the Malay world, ranging from the nature of kingship, the administrative structure of states, the biographies of major personalities and the form of Islamic thought embraced, as well as on developments in the art and material culture of the region. This important reference work describes and analyses the Malay sealing tradition, carefully cataloguing more than 2,000 seals sourced from collections worldwide, primarily seal impressions stamped in lampblack, ink, or wax on manuscript letters, treaties, and other documents, but including some seal matrices made of silver, brass, or stone. These Malay seals originate from the present-day territories of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and Indonesia as well as the southern parts of Thailand and Cambodia, and the Philippines, and date from the second half of the sixteenth century to the early twentieth century. Complete transcriptions and translations of the Jawi inscriptions are provided, bringing the seals to light as objects of literary and art historical analysis, and key resources for an understanding of the Malay Islamic world of Southeast Asia in the early modern period.

"The Malay population makes up Singapore's three largest ethnic groups. This book provides an analysis of the debates on religion, politics and citizenship of Malay Muslims in contemporary Singapore. Comprehensively and convincingly argued, the author examines their disadvantaged circumstances in the fields of politics, education, social mobility, and freedom of religious expression."--Publisher's description.

Contesting Malayness assembles research on the theme of how Malays have identified themselves in time and place, developed by a wide range of scholars. While the authors describe some of the historical and cultural patterns that make up the Malay world, taken as a whole their work demonstrates the impossibility of offering a definition or even a description of "Melayu" that is not rife with omissions and contradictions.