Burmese Malays

Burmese Malays (Burmese: ပသျှူးလူမျိုး) primarily live in Tanintharyi Region in the southern part of Myanmar. They include 2 distinct populations: Kedahan Malays and Mokens.

The southernmost islands of the Mergui Archipelago (also Myeik Archipelago) is home to the Moken people, a nomadic ethnic minority related to the Malays. There are also some dispersed Malay and Malay related Muslims from the northern most states of Malaysia and Southern Thailand. Some of the Moken and the Muslims in these southernmost islands speak a dialect of Malay. The Malays are believed to be of Kedahan Malay descent, although the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa makes no mention whatsoever of the Mergui Archipelago.

In 1865, an Arab-Malay group led by Nayuda Ahmed, traveling and collecting sea products around Mergui Archipelago settled down in Victoria Point Bay, which is now located in modern-day Kawthaung. The Burmese Malays mainly live in Bokpyin Township and a few islands in the southern part of the Mergui Archipelago.

The Malay influence is clearly visible in the names of certain settlements near Kawthaung - the words Kampong, Ulu, Telok, Tengah and Palau (Malay/Indonesian words for village, remote, bay, central and island respectively) appear in a handful of settlement names. However, these names do not prove the demographics of the settlements.

The Malays living in Southern Burma are related to the Kedahan Malay. They speak Burmese and Kedah-Perlis dialect. Some of these Malays can also read the Jawi script which was the old Arabic-derived script used in the Malay Peninsula.

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