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❅ᜐᜋᜓᜎ Profile picture
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18 Jan, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Not quite the hot topic but I'm gonna say it anyway. Half the westerners who visit or even spend time in SEA know little to nothing about the region's history or culture, even if they learn the local language. Come at me
North Americans in particular have a very specific view of Asia, based almost entirely on stereotypes of how people from said places look. Which is why South Asia isn't even included

In the mind of many westerners, Thailand and especially Vietnam are "basically China". Philippines is a Hispanic part of the South Pacific. Any Muslims are assumed to be culturally similar to the Middle East. And Indonesia is just an exotic island nation

For spending some time in Asia, and eating a bit of roti canai, these foreigners are treated by other westerners as experts with some valuable insight. And hey, some do love the local culture. But not the "find myself" and "healing journey" types

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More from @uglyluhan

❅ᜐᜋᜓᜎ Profile picture
19 Jan
Gonna use this question as an excuse to look at the Islamisation of the Melaka kingdom, and whether there was opposition to the religion

I previously did a thread explaining why it's unlikely that the founder of Melaka converted to Islam. I had fewer followers back then so I kept the thread simple to avoid confusing anyone who's unfamiliar with the topic. I'll go into a bit more detail this time
We have a few sources for the early history of Melaka. These are the Sulalatus Salatin (Sejarah Melayu) written in Melaka, the Bustan al-Salatin written in Aceh, the Chinese Ming Shi (明史) and Yingya Shenglan (瀛涯勝覽), and the writings of the Portuguese
Read 53 tweets
❅ᜐᜋᜓᜎ Profile picture
16 Jan
First thread of the year because I have time during MCO. As requested, a thread on the gods and spirits of Malay folk religion. Some are indigenous, some are of Indian origin, some have Islamic influences

Before I begin, it might be worth explaining the Malay conception of the spirit world. At its deepest level, Malay religious belief is animist. All living beings and even certain objects are said to have a soul. Natural phenomena are either controlled by or personified as spirits
Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their names

Read 45 tweets
❅ᜐᜋᜓᜎ Profile picture
18 Oct 20
Well it's not incorrect to say that Malays are indigenous to peninsular Malaysia. I'm not sure what started this conversation but I guess some explanations are in order on the "whites of Malaysia" statement
First, while I do consider Malays to be indigenous, it would be inaccurate to compare the Malay community to the original inhabitants, who are of course the orang asli that have been living here far earlier

Secondly, while it is true that one of the orang asli groups are dubbed Melayu Asli (Proto-Malay), they arrived long before the ancestors of today's Malay majority, and have a distinct culture. To think of them as just "wild Malays" is neocolonialism

Read 15 tweets
❅ᜐᜋᜓᜎ Profile picture
8 Aug 20
I sure can. I did a thread before on who brought Islam to Southeast Asia but it wasn't up to par so I'll try to be a bit more clear this time

If we were to ask who were the first Muslims in Southeast Asia, the answer would probably be simple enough. Most likely they were from the Middle East, a region which had trade links with Southeast Asia in medieval times
Arab and Persian Muslim traders had been making their way to Southeast Asia since the 9th century. However, contact with Muslims does not mean locals were converting. After all, trade with the Chinese wasn't making Malays Daoist
Read 46 tweets
❅ᜐᜋᜓᜎ Profile picture
14 Jun 20
As requested, a thread on Malay shamans, known locally as bomoh, dukun, or pawang. While Europe has witches and wizards, the bomoh is our main equivalent of the archetypal magic-user

Let's start with an explanation of the terminology because someone needs to say this. The most accurate translation for bomoh, dukun and pawang is shaman. Not "medicine man", not "witch doctor", not "faith healer"

coconuts.co/bali/lifestyle…
The English language, as far as I'm aware, doesn't have the vocabulary to differentiate between bomoh and pawang. Both are types of shamans. Even the word shaman itself is of North Asian origin

etymonline.com/word/shaman
Read 60 tweets
❅ᜐᜋᜓᜎ Profile picture
3 Jun 20
After correcting the claim that "Tamils were the first people here" yesterday, it seems I need to respond to the other side today. I know we're supposed to screenshot the alt-right and not directly engage, but this time I will quote tweet because I wanna make sure he sees it
Within the last few days, @thepatriotsasia posted a few threads attempting to defend the myth of Malays as natives, while denying the parallels between systematic oppression in America and Malaysia. However, I won't deal with the latter topic right now

Instead of subjective political opinions, I want to respond specifically to two factual errors, because in this case it's not a matter of opinion. The first is this thread on the Melayu Asli or Proto-Malays

Read 24 tweets

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