Javanese Malaysians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| unknown (including Malaysian citizens counted as "Malays")[note 1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mostly in Selangor, Perak and Johor states of the peninsula and a significant minority in Sabah and Sarawak. | |
| Languages | |
| Majority: Malaysian Minority: Javanese | |
| Religion | |
| Mostly Muslim, significant minority of Christians and Hindus (among immigrants from Indonesia) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Javanese people, Malaysian Malays, Malay Singaporeans, other native Malaysians and Indonesians |
The Javanese Malaysians are people of full or partial Javanese descent who were born in or immigrated to Malaysia. They form a significant part of Malaysia's population and Malaysian law considers most of them to be Malays. Malaysia is home to the largest Javanese population outside Indonesia.
The majority of Javanese Malaysians originate from Central Java; the first wave came during the Shailendra era from the sixth to ninth century, then during the Singhasari and Majapahit era from the twelfth to fourteenth century. There were also migrants from the Dutch East Indies looking for new opportunities in British Malaya. Although many of them arrived during the colonial era, there are also those who arrived during World War II to both Japanese-occupied British Malaya and Borneo as forced labour.[4][5] In the present day, they live predominantly in the West Malaysian states of Johor, Perak and Selangor, with significant minorities found in East Malaysia, especially in the states of Sabah and Sarawak.
Most Malaysians of Javanese descent have assimilated into the local Malay culture and speak Malaysian as a native tongue and first language rather than the Javanese language of their ancestors. This occurred through usual assimilation, as well as intermarriages with other ethnic groups. This qualifies them as Malays under Malaysian law. The situation is identical with the Javanese in Singapore, where they are considered Malay.
Notes
- ^ It is very difficult to find exact figures because Malaysian census data does not consider the Javanese as one ethnicity but part of the "Malays", according to the 1950 Malaysian census it was estimated that more than 189,000 Malaysian Malays were born to Javanese parents. This figure is very significant considering the number of Malaysian Malays at that time was just under 3 million. Javanese descendants form large communities in Johor, Selangor, Perak and other states in Malaysia.[1][2][3]
References
- ^ "History of Javanese Migration to Malaysia" (in Indonesian). Kompas. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ "The Javanese connection in Malaysia". MalaysiaKini. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
- ^ A Preliminary Report on the Javanese in Selangor, Malaysia (PDF). Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 26, No.2. 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ^ Shigeru Sato (June 2015). War, Nationalism and Peasants: Java Under the Japanese Occupation, 1942–45. Routledge. pp. 158–. ISBN 978-1-317-45236-2.
- ^ Richard Wallace Braithwaite (2016). Fighting Monsters: An Intimate History of the Sandakan Tragedy. Australian Scholarly Publishing. pp. 278–. ISBN 978-1-925333-76-3.
Further reading
- Syed Hussein Alatas (13 May 2013), The Myth of the Lazy Native: A Study of the Image of the Malays, Filipinos and Javanese from the 16th to the 20th Century and Its Function in the Ideology of Colonial Capitalism, Routledge, pp. 61–, ISBN 978-1-136-27641-5
- GHULAM-SARWAR YOUSOF (26 April 2013), ISSUES IN TRADITIONAL MALAYSIAN CULTURE, Partridge Singapore, pp. 107–, ISBN 978-1-4828-9540-7
