via the Malay Mail, 12 August 2018: An editorial from The Malay Mail weighing in on the ludicrous and racist claims by Zaharah Sulaiman on the origins of the Malays as the progenitor of a good portion of modern human populations. There is fringe and pseudo-archaeology, and then there is factually inaccurate archaeology that has very dangerous consequences on society if not enough people speak up about it.
Regardless, proponents of the “Malays Out of Sundaland” hypothesis completely ignored the fact that the “Malay” term frequently used in Malaysia is but a social construct: solely defined in the Constitution as Muslim natives who practise the Malay culture.
This definition has since been used to justify various affirmative action policies and special positions, and eventually but unfortunately, racism against others who should be afforded the same status as citizens following the formation of Malaysia.
The “Malays” is not a distinct race uniquely different from the others, but if taken as a general term would include a melange of ethnicities and backgrounds from the Malay lands.
And the eventual stinging rebuttal from five academics who worked on human population genetics, archaeology and history against Zaharah’s “Malay genes oldest” claim only serves to undermine the hypothesis.
Source: Arguing against Malays’ ‘Sundaland origins’ | Malay Mail
