Malay society (the Melayu world) refers to the cultural sphere that shares the culture of Melayu; it is a maritime world across the islands of Southeast Asia. Although this region is now divided into several nations, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia, it was once a space for many ethnic groups and kingdoms, each flexibly connected. People in the Melayu world are not only from Southeast Asia, but merchants and immigrants from the East, West, North, and South (East Asia, Australia, Western Europe, etc.) also participated in the distribution of goods and people in a vast trade network that connects the world.
In this lecture, we will learn about the Melayu world's values, cosmology, history, and culture from a relative perspective. I hope you will find some ideas to escape from the idea that our standards should be "Westernized," "Modernized," or "Civilized." For specific topics, we will re-examine matters such as the management of modern borders and resources of nature and the form of nation-states and attempt to relativize these values.