PETALING JAYA, Feb 15 — Think the Malay population is unique to Malaysia and her neighbouring countries like Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia?

Then, it’s time to brush up on your geography.

The Cocos Islands, also known as Keeling Island, is an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean may only have a population of roughly 600 people but its majority is made up of Cocos Malays who speak a dialect of Malay and English.

The remote island was discovered by Captain William Keeling in 1609 but was not inhabited until 1826 when the wealthy English adventurer Alexander Hare brought a harem of 40 Malay women over to the islands, as documented in the memoir Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum.

Later on, one of the island’s first settlers, the Scottish merchant John Clunies-Ross recruited more Malays to the island to work on his copra plantation.

According to an article published by Hitz, the islanders receive Malaysian television channels such as TV3, ntv7, 8TV and TV9, on top of Australian channels.

Besides the Cocos Islands, here are far-flung places where Malays can be found:

South Africa

The rainbow nation, just like Malaysia, is a melting pot of many cultures and ethnic groups.

One ethnic community that is closest to home are the Cape Malays. South Africa’s Cape Malays mostly come from the Dutch East Indies and Dutch Malacca, which the Dutch colonised from 1641 to 1824.

Afrikaans is mainly spoken but English is also widely used — Cape Malay people don’t speak the Malay languages which their ancestors used.

Their unique culture, like most in the world, is evident in their cuisine such as sosaties (a type of satay-style skewer dish), bredie (tomato-based mutton stew) and mild curries made with dried fruit such as apricots.

Seychelles

If you paid attention in History class, you may recall the story Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah II, who was exiled to the tropical paradise of Seychelles, after he was accused of being complicit in the murder of the British Resident of Perak James Birch.

In an article by Kreol Magazine, Sultan Abdullah arrived in the island off East Africa in 1877 with an entourage of 37. He was in exile for 17 years.

In those years, he introduced Malaysian fruits such as the disease-resistant Malaysian banana to the island and played cricket at the Victoria Cricket Club with British military officers.

The sultan also impressed the Brits with his ability to speak English.

Sri Lanka

Known for its ancient Buddhist temples and beloved Ceylon tea, Sri Lanka is home to some 40,000 ethnic Malays that make up 0.2 per cent of the population.

Sri Lankan Malays arrived in the country when both Indonesia and Sri Lanka were ruled by the Dutch and later on under British rule, more arrived from the Malay Peninsula.

Known as Ja-minissu, the Malay community in Sri Lanka are mostly professionals such as lawyers, accountants and doctors.

Myanmar

Burmese Malays are found living in the south of Myanmar in the Tanintharyi Region and are said to have Kedahan Malay heritage.

They arrived in 1865 after a Malay of Arab descent Nayuda Ahmed who was collecting sea products around Mergui Archipelago settled down in Victoria Point Bay, modern-day Kawthaung.

In the Malay quarters of Kawthaung, familiar words such as kampong (remote), ulu (remote), telok (bay) and pulau (island) can be seen in the names of the settlements.