The Malays: A Cultural History (1951)

A short introductory chapter is follwed by one on the origin, migrations and languare, and this, in turn by one on Malay beliefs and religion. Subsequent chapters deal with the social, political , legal and economic systems, as well as the literature, and the arts and crafts. The book ends with a discussion on the future of Malays. 

There are two appendices, one of which gives the (Romanized) Malay texts cited on preceding pages, and another a summary of the matriarchal relationships in the communities of Central Sumatra (Minangkabu) origin on the Malacca peninsula, specifically on the Federated State of Negeri Sembilan.

The author has limited himself to the study of the Malacca Malays, although he concedes that in a broader sense the term Malay applies to "almost all the inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago, Formosa and the Phillipines and some of the tribes of Indo-China."

Nor does he seem to want any truck with the term Indonesian "which has proceed acceptable to politician of races despised by the more advanced peoples of the Malay archipelago. The profitable reading of this condensed book presupposes a good background knowledge of anthropoligical, ethnological, legal, linguistic and religious terminology. The author's noote to lucid style is no help to the uninitiated reader. But the intitated will find the short study a valuable mine of authoritative information.
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Condition: Tears in dustjacket especially at the edges (picture shown). Inside texts are incredibly clean. Absolutely rare edition.