In Indonesia s Riau Islands Province a place envisioned as a distinctly Malay Province upon its legal formation in 2002 ethnic Malays are the proud heirs and custodians of a rich legacy associated with a once sprawling Malay empire that stretched across present day transnational borders from Indonesia to Singapore to Malaysia Malays of Bugis descent have long played a disproportionately central role in the history and the historiography or history telling of the region that now encompasses Indonesia s Riau Islands Province While steadfastly Malay members of this community readily acknowledge that their ethnically Bugis roots maintain an enduring historical and ideological salience in their everyday lives However transregional economic trends and rapid sociodemographic shift shaped by ongoing migration flows have led to feelings of marginalization peminggiran among the islands Malay Bugis community This has led them to claim that they are being gradually pushed to the literal and figurative edges of social life in the Riau Islands Province Fears that a one time ethnic majority is becoming a minority mayoritas menjadi minoritas have fuelled feelings of inter ethnic resentment and have shaped provincial government policies geared toward the preservation of Malay custom While international focus continues to centre on Indonesia s Chinese pribumi divide as diagnostic of Indonesian inter ethnic and religious relations on edge a grounded assessment of ethnicity in the Riau islands offers an alternative perspective on these important issues

Living on the Edge: Being Malay (and Bugis) in the Riau Islands PDF

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