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The linguists say that over 60% of the Malay language is derived from Tamil. You can dispute the percentage but without a doubt a very large part of Malay is indeed derived from Tamil. I believe some writer has published a dictionary of Malay words derived from Tamil.
It takes a very long time for a language to borrow so many words from another language. It is something that would have taken centuries and required a close interaction between the Tamils and the Malays for so many Tamil words to be absorbed into the Malay language. How did this happen?
Here is a pop quiz. The Roman Empire lasted for 1480 years from 27 BC to 1453. Which Asian empire outlasted the Romans?
The answer is the Chola Empire which lasted for 1600 years from 300 BC to 1300 AD. The Cholas were a Tamil dynasty from Tamil Nadu. They had a few capitals over their 1600 year history ie Puhar, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Gangaikonda and Cholapuram.
Along their 1600 years the Cholas did invade Kadaram (Kedah), the peninsula and all the way to Sri Vijaya (founded 650 AD) in Sumatera.
The Cholas invaded, colonised, expanded, traded, culturally influenced etc the whole region of South East Asia over such a long period of time that large numbers of Tamil words have been absorbed not just into Malay but also in the Thai language (also substantially) and even into the Philippines.
