Sri Lankan Malays

Sri Lankan Malays (Sinhala: (ශ්‍රී ලංකා) මැලේ ජනතාවŚrī Laṅkā Mælē Janatāva (Standard); colloquially මැලේ මිනිස්සු / ජා මිනිස්සුMæle Minissu / Ja Minissu; Tamil: இலங்கை மலாயர், romanized: Ilaṅkai Malāyar), historically known as Ceylon Malays, are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka descended primarily from Southeast Asians who were brought to or settled in Ceylon during Dutch and British colonial rule from the late seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.

Their ancestors included political exiles, soldiers, convicts, servants and their families from various parts of the Indonesian archipelago. The population was ethnically diverse and included people of Javanese, Bugis, Ambonese, Bandanese, Balinese and Madurese origin. The term Malay in colonial Ceylon did not refer exclusively to the modern ethnic Malay population. Dutch and British records applied broader collective labels to Southeast Asians of different regional origins, and the designation Malay became established for the community in Ceylon.

Sri Lankan Malays are predominantly Muslim. Their traditional language is Sri Lanka Malay, a variety of Malay whose grammar has been extensively restructured under prolonged contact with Sinhala and Tamil. Comparative linguistic studies have linked Sri Lanka Malay to several historical varieties of Vehicular Malay, including Bazaar Malay, Batavian/Jakarta-area Malay and eastern Indonesian Malay varieties, particularly Moluccan Malay.

Sri Lankan Malays have played an important role in shaping Sri Lankan culture and identity through cultural diffusion, having contributed to many areas of Sri Lankan culture and society including cuisine, cultural traditions, and place names.

In the 2024 Census of Population and Housing, 26,650 people identified as Malay, representing 0.12% of Sri Lanka’s population.