ABSTRACT
In the century of Malay supremacy in Malacca, which finished abruptly in 1511, Malay thought and tradition and belief were remoulded completely by the coming of Islam and the stabilization of an absolute despotism. Of the mental and moral qualities of the early Malays in the Peninsula there are few if any direct evidences dating from that period. “The Malays of the Peninsula have been Muslims. Occasionally a Chinese or Sakai has “entered Islam,” or, as the Malays say, “entered Malay,” for the sake of marriage; and undoubtedly many Sakai women were used as concubines by Malay men. The effects of Islam on the Malay character have varied greatly from time to time as the lamp of religious devotion has burned high or low. The fact that Islam is quite as much a political system as a religion is strikingly seen in Malay history and thought.
