The swirling breezy wind across the white sandy beaches. On the front, the grueling wave swooshing across the wide ocean. Whilst deep in the crystal clear waters, lies the magnificent marine creatures dancing across the seabed. A stone away from the sea, pristine green rain forest awaits to be discovered with its charming floras and faunas.
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| The pristine beach of Perhentian Island in Malaysia (upload.wikimedia.org) |
Sounds familiar? Yes, under the sun kiss weather set in the tropics, you bet it could be in the Cayman Islands, Maldives or Solomon Islands. Maybe, but I wished to bring you to a true group of islands of paradise that have captivated many people across the world. And this region is also where the best hidden paradise spots are yet to be explored.
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| The location of Nusantara Islands in South East Asia (www.animalcorner.co.uk) |
This is the endless tropical island discoveries of Nusantara or Malay / Indonesian Archipelago islands of South East Asia. The world's largest archipelago (much bigger than the Canadian Archipelago), is a chain of island stretching from the Phillipines, Borneo, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Sunda Islands, Celebes, Moluccas and New Guinea. Yes, this is Nusantara. And we are gonna talk about these islands later. But the islands are integral parts of this vast enchanted region.
So, what is it Nusantara?
So, before we go further, after the brief introduction, this post and the incoming ones are the excerpt of my experience and analysis based on his journey across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand. The post is a culmination of thoughts on culture, built environment, Geographics and natural wonders as well as various issues about these countries.
Interpretation
Rather than discussing on its definition, it is far more interesting to know about the interpretation among the people. The word Nusantara, nevertheless is widely known and recognised among the Malay and Indonesian speakers. However, there are different interpretations of this term.
Among the Malay speakers in Malaysia and Brunei, Nusantara refers to a loose geopolitical region of the Malay World in South East Asia, which encompasses these countries, including Indonesia. To some extend, it does include Singapore, Southern Thailand and the Philippines.
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| Map of Nusantara countries (joshuaproject.net) |
Whilst for the Indonesians, on the other hand, it is simply referred as the alternative name of the archipelago nation of Indonesia. It is strictly and exclusively indicate the country islands and its territorial areas. This is prevalent as I have witnessed the word is being used expansively across the mass media and public displays in Indonesia.
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| Map of the Indonesian Archipelago at the National Monument in Jakarta (upload.wikimedia.org) |
So that is just a matter of interpretation. What matters the most is to whom it belongs and the things that bind the people together - the religion and culture. Malay World is overwhelmingly a stronghold of Sunni Muslims, with profound influence of Hinduism and Animism.
Countries
Unlike the Middle East, the Malay Archipelago of South East Asia belonged to handful of few nations. It comprises the South East Asia's biggest economy, Indonesia, the modern, moderate Muslim nation of Malaysia and the oil rich sultanate of Brunei. These countries are where the Malays/indigenous Muslims make up the majority of the population.
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| Malaysia - Indonesia - Brunei (photobucket.com) |
For a broader definition, Nusantara also consists of the only Catholic-Hispanised country in Asia, the Philippines, though the Muslims are concentrated in the southern provinces. The similar geopolitical situation does exist and has included in the southern Thailand and Myanmar, whilst the Malay Muslim make up the small minority remainder in Singapore and Timor Leste.
Language
The main languages would be Malay / Indonesian, followed by Tagalog. Other non-local languages have also been picked up including the English and Thai.
However, these languages would only be the second language for some people, as this region is blessed with thousands of languages and dialects. There are about 700 dialects in Indonesia, 137 in Malaysia, 175 in the Philippines and around 10 in Brunei. This region is not homogenous as what people may think. Though they may or may not mutually intelligible, there are traced from the same Austronesian root.
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| Bukit Bintang District of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (upload.wikimedia.org) |
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| Central Jakarta District of Jakarta, Indonesia (asiaexpatguides.com) |
Interestingly, unlike Tagalog, Malay and Indonesian are mutually intelligible. Some advocate the language differences are merely the British and American English alike, but to me, they are more than that. The differences are discernible, especially in the written language, but can be easily picked up and understand in the conversations (depends on the who are the speakers!)
Nevertheless, it does not hinder the fact that Malay/Indonesian is the easiest language to learn in the world. As it has a great number of speakers, this language is envisaged to be among the world's major languages in years to come.
Indonesian Language Wise
Another interesting part of the language is that for most Indonesians, they tend to think and classify Bahasa Indonesia as the sole and the prime language of its own. From my own observation while in Indonesia, the Indonesians (not all) are unaware of the history of Bahasa Indonesia, which was formed and based on the Malay Language of Riau-Lingga-Johor dialect.
But yet, they have always considered that Bahasa Melayu of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei is a detached and totally different language that have some similarities with Bahasa Indonesia. Someone that I have met questioned on why himself as a Minang, can always comprehend B. Melayu spoken by Malaysians, as opposed to the Javanese Language used by his Indonesian peers.
Unlike the Indonesians, Malays in these countries have always acknowledged Bahasa Indonesia as the closest and related language belonged to the same group with B, Melayu. For many years, B. Indonesia has been the utmost referencing source in many language matters.
But somehow, globally, Malay and Indonesian Languages have been categorised as the same group of language, detached from Tagalog. This makes the language have a strong 281 million speakers, both as first and second language speakers, with 77 million native users.
The end of the first part of the introduction and sociopolitical info of Nusantara / The Malay World of South East Asia. In the next part, we are going to explore the natural and built environment of Nusantara. Till then, keep reading and browsing!
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