Bruneian MalaysBrunei Malay in its various forms can be identified with a nation, an ethnic group and a region. ( ms, Orang Melayu Brunei, Jawi: ) are a native

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

ethnic group that lives in Brunei, the

federal territory A federal territory is an administrative division under the direct and usually exclusive jurisdiction of a federation's national government. A federal territory is a part of a federation, but not a part of any federated state. The states constit ...

of Labuan, the southwestern coast of Sabah and the northern parts of Sarawak. The Bruneian Malays are a subgroup of the larger ethnic

population found in the other parts of the Malay World, namely Peninsular Malaysia and the central and southern areas of Sarawak including neighbouring lands such as Singapore, Indonesia and Southern Thailand, having visible differences especially in language and culture, even though they are ethnically related to each other and follow the teachings of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. All Bruneian Malays who are born or domiciled in East Malaysia even for generations before or after the independence of the states of Sabah and Sarawak from the British Empire through the formation of Malaysia in 1963 are also considered Malaysian Malays in the national census and were in the same status like the Malaysian Malays domiciled in Peninsular Malaysian states and the central and southern parts of Sarawak. They are also defined as a part of the Bumiputera racial classification together as a subgroup within the Malaysian Malay ethnic population along with the Kadazan-Dusuns, Orang Ulu, Ibans, Malaccan Portuguese,

Muruts The Murut are an indigenous ethnic group, comprising 29 sub-ethnic groups inhabiting the northern inland regions of Borneo. The Murutic languages are a family of half a dozen closely related Austronesian languages. The Murut can be found mainl ...

, Orang Sungai, Bajau, Suluks and the Malaysian Siamese.

Etymology

As per an official statistics, the "''Bruneian Malays''" term only became official after the 1921 Brunei Ethnic Categories Census, which is different from the 1906 and 1911 census which only mentioned "''Barunays''" (Brunei's or Bruneian). It is possibly indicated a shift on the self-perception by the Bruneians about their Malay identity. The earliest recorded documentation by the West about Brunei is by an Italian known as Ludovico di Varthema, who also said the "Bruneian people have fairer skin tone than the peoples he met in Maluku Islands". On his documentation back to 1550;

We arrived at the island of Bornei'' (Brunei or Borneo), ''which is distant from the ''Maluch'' about two hundred miles, and we found that it was somewhat larger than the aforesaid and much lower. The people are pagans and are men of goodwill. Their colour is whiter than that of the other sort....in this island justice is well administered...

Some historians have suggested that Bruneian Malay have been linked with the Chinese mainland due to its historical sources dependent on Chinese support.

History

Origin

It is widely believed that the Brunei Kingdom was founded in 14th century by the first Sultan, Alak Batatar. However, from the Chinese records, an older Brunei was in existence as far back as 800 years before the founding of Brunei by Sultan Muhammad Shah, the first Sultan of Brunei. Even though some sources stated that the Malays of Brunei came from Yunnan and the Formosa Island (now Taiwan) through to the Philippines and settled on the coastal Borneo before expanding into

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

and Indochina countries like Malay Peninsula, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam as a result of their trading and seafaring way of life, researchers are still unable to trace the origin of the old Brunei.

Cultures

Cuisine

As the official Brunei

national dish A national dish is a culinary dish that is strongly associated with a particular country. A dish can be considered a national dish for a variety of reasons: * It is a staple food, made from a selection of locally available foodstuffs that can be ...

, the '' Ambuyat'' is the main dish of the Bruneian Malays together with a number of types of ''

snack A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snacks are p ...

'' such as ''

lamban Lamban is a traditional dessert for the Bruneian Malay people, Kedayan in Labuan and in the states of Sabah, Malaysia. The taste of Lamban is almost like the Malays ketupat or the Chinese's rice dumplings and kelupis of Lun Bawang / Lundayeh. ...

'', ''

punjung Punjung is a traditional dessert for the Bruneian Malay people and Kedayan in Labuan and in the states of Sabah, Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States ...

'' and many more.

Music

The main song and dance performed by this ethnic both in Brunei and Malaysia is the ''Adai-adai'', which was traditionally sung by the Bruneian fishermens.

References

Notes

Books

# ms, Laporan banchi pendudok Brunei, 1971 ( ms, Bahagian Ekonomi dan Perangkaan, Jabatan Setia Usaha Kerajaan), 1971. # Mohd. Nor bin Long; ms, Perkembangan pelajaran di Sabah ( ms, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia), 1978. # Sabihah Osman, Muhamad Hadi Abdullah, Sabullah Hj. Hakip; ms, Sejarah Brunei menjelang kemerdekaan ( ms, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia), 1955. {{Portal bar, Malaysia, Society Malay people Ethnic groups in Sabah Ethnic groups in Sarawak Ethnic groups in Brunei