The Japanese Malay: Ethnic categorisation in Southwest Borneo

The distinction found throughout Borneo between those peoples locally termed Dayak (Dayaks) and those locally termed Melayu (Malays) is most commonly understood as one between non-Islamic indigenous peoples (Dayaks) and Islamic indigenous peoples (Malays). While Borneo peoples recognize that not all Muslims are Malays, they nevertheless often appear to make a correlation between Muslim and Malay. This article argues that in parts of the island the distinction is more complex than such an easy elision between identity and religion can allow for; in particular, the category Melayu, as used among Dayak people, can only be understood in terms of local histories of domination, marginalization, and exclusion. In south-west Borneo, where Dayaks have long been subject to would-be domination by Malays, the category Melayu, as used by Dayaks, is one of alterity, indexing a range of characteristics seen as opposed to those found in their own societies. While adherence to Islam is one of these characteristics, it is not the only-nor even the most important-of them. The article elaborates this argument with respect to the ethnicizing of Japanese occupiers by local Dayaks during World War ii.