Rigel Kent

Laws operate apart from the purposes of the men who write them and the Malay Reservations Enactment, with all its weaknesses and imperfections, has been and continues to be a major force in determining patterns of land ownership, flows of capital, and access to capital as well as the character of the population in rural Malaysia. Paul H. Kratoska Ends that we cannot foresee: Malay Reservations in British Malaya I once bumped 1 into Anthony Milner at the History Department, University of Malaya. During our brief conversation, he kept circling back to a single, deceptively simple question: ‘What is a Malay?' For someone who has spent much of his career studying Malay identity, this was telling. It revealed the unspoken truth, that it is technically impossible to quantify a complex ethnic and cultural essence using mere words, let alone statutes. Before the rubber economy boom, there was little n...

Kami Dayak, kami bukan Melayu. Dayak dan Melayu adalah dari ras Austronesia. Tidak perlu memelayukan bangsa-bangsa yang bukan Melayu ok. Comment by a viewer named @borneandayak6725 on the clip titled: Asal Usul Melayu, Induknya Di Benua Sunda Some scholars like to look at the map of the ancient Sunda peninsula and exclaim, ‘That’s the Malay world!' which is odd, because back in the day, Malay was basically just the business English used by maritime traders when they came here to shop for cloves, nutmeg, and sandalwood. Technically, then, the term Malay world is no more than a superficial linguistic label for the region. But instead of checking facts, these scholars prefer to sit around stroking their own brains, sometimes even up to seven years, imagining that everyone 1 in the region is genetically Malay, whatever that even means. The Javanese could just as easily go,...

There was a small, secluded resort on a tropical island known as Andalusian Shoals. Its brochures promised nothing unusual: calm seas, pale beaches, and air so clean you could hear your own thoughts hum. Yet, visitors who stayed there often left with the same strange impression, that something wasn’t quite right about how the rooms were assigned. At Andalusian Shoals, one did not simply book a seaside room. You could try, of course. You could click the Ocean View 海側の部屋 Mountain View 山側の部屋 option online and pay the premium. But when you arrived, dragging your suitcase through the jasmine-scented lobby, the receptionist would look first not at your name, not at your reservation, but at your luggage. Hansa-Thalo heritage of Green: Mix phthalocyanine blue and arylide yellow, and you’ll get a green so smug it practically radiates self-satisfaction. Green, of cours...

English laws, apparently, love fairness. Which sounds nice in theory, but in practice is a bit silly: Everyone gets treated the same. No priority lounges, no special privileges. Just the cold, relentless hand of the law, judging you like a very serious referee who does not like fun. . . . then Nila Pahlawan told several tales: the marriage of Raja Iskandar إسكندر to the daughter of Raja Kida Hindi, and the descent of Raja Suran into the sea, et cetera. Mpu ꦩ꧀ꦥꦸ and Malini मालिनी asked what proofs they could produce of the truth of this relation. “Ladies," said Nila Pahlawan, “this crown is an evidence of descent from Raja Iskandar. If any farther evidence is wanting, consider the phenomenon which you have seen on your rice-grounds in coming hither." Then the girls were rejoiced, and invited them to their house, whither they proceeded, he of the centre being mounted on...