malays defined as those who practice malay culture, speak malay and are muslims by malaysia and singapore.
Rubbish.
1. Don't confuse religion with race. Malay is a race, not a religion. Islam was only established in S.E. Asia in the 16th century. The early Malay kingdoms and empires (Sri Wijaya, Majapahit) were all either Buddhist or Hindu. The Philippines were Muslim prior to the Spanish conquest, with establishment of sultanates in Sulu, Mindanao, Lanao and Tondo.
Sang Nila Utama, our founder who ruled over Singapura, Bintan and Palembang, was a Buddhist prince, for crying out loud. Modern-day Philippines was part of the Sri Wijaya empire.
2. Race and language are not always synonymous. Anthropologists are agreed that the Filipinos are classified under the Malay
race, as are the native inhabitants of the Malay archipelago. Linguistically, the Malay
language is narrowly defined as that spoken by the natives of the Malay peninsula, eastern coast of Sumatra, west Kalimantan, and the Riau Islands. Both Tagalog and Malay are classified as belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages.
A 3rd generation American-born Chinese is Chinese by race, even if he can't speak a single word of Chinese, and English is his mother-tongue.
