Malaysians and Filipinos, Are they related ? Options

[pablo]

is there any relation between malaysians and filipinos? does any1 know the history? jus inquiring... thanx

[malaccan]

Excuse me, but I dont think I am. Honestly.

I'm a mainlander. So were my grandpas n grandmas, my great grandpas n great grandmas, my great great grandpas n great great grandmas. N so on.

We hv been n still r much, much more Mon-Khmeric than Sumatran-Javanese.

The point is, even Malaysians, even Malay Malaysians, r still unclear about the true n complete history of Malaysia.

Sabahans n Sarawakians may be islanders. Even then, it's quite likely that SOME of their ancestors may hv also come from mainlandic SEA. As well as further north from Taiwan n Southern China.

As for Semenanjung (Peninsular) "Malays", the best description, I feel, would be mixed mainlandic-islandic. With northerners tending to hv greater mainlandic ancestry n southerners tending to hv greater islandic ancestry.

Yes. The Semenanjung has a dual character. Technically it is a part of the SEAn mainland. But being a peninsula, politically n culturally it has also been condidered a part of the archipelago for thousands of years. It's like, an almost-island.

I am with Mr. Awang.

My response was a lame attempt at sarcasm actually - a few Filipinos keep questioning whether they are Asians or Pacific islanders, which to Malaysians is a non-issue as the answer is fairly obvious.

I am but echoing your thoughts that Semenanjung is where mainland and maritime southeat Asia meets. As a southerner with closer ties to Indonesia than you would have I fully acknowledge the unique attributes of our northern brothers. We too now are mixed and are one in eating belacan, tempoyak, cencaluk, budu - Malaysia is home and not the islands further south nor the kingdoms to the north. Which makes for interesting times come Hari Raya- nak balik kampung suami kat Muar or balik kampung bini kat Sungai Petani?

It's a shame that not more Malaysians speak mainland languages, because there is much we can harness from working closer with our mainland cousins. Just look at the distance between KL and other ASEAN cities - it would need to be pointed out to many that we are georaphically closer to more mainland capital cities than the martime ones. The former are also more accessible as we can drive there if we want.

KL-Singapore: 320km
KL-Phnom Penh/Ho Chi Minh: 1000km
KL-Bangkok/Jakarta: 1200km
KL-Bandar Seri Begawan: 1500km
KL-Manila: 2500km

So don't mind me when I say we're pacific islanders- it's just light banter with our Filipino relatives. I can see why many Filipinos would think that. AsiaFinest was really started for Asians in the States and over there the most represented southeast Asian people there are Filipinos. Add into the mixture Hawaiians and the Spanish-influenced communities, you can see how easily it would be for some to identify themselves more with the Pacific islanders rather than Asians, unlike Malay(sians) with our physical link to mainland Asia and shared Hindu-Buddhist past. I stand by what I said about the many physical similarities between Malaysians and Filipinos - I really have lost count the number of times I'm mistaken for the latter.

[nessie09]

I stand by what I said about the many physical similarities between Malaysians and Filipinos - I really have lost count the number of times I'm mistaken for the latter.

Too true! I went for a holiday in Boracay & Manila last October and everywhere I went, people started talking Tagalog with me. I usually responded in English without really understanding what is being said because I'm under the assumption its always something along the lines of 'Welcome/Do u need anything/ What can I do for you' etc... Until 3 or 4 Tagalog sentences later that I'm left dumbfounded and eventually tell them that I'm Malaysian.

Most are surprised and said I don't look or sound Malaysian. See, Carmen Soo was huge in PI for her role in Kahit Isang Saglit while I was there. (I did get to watch 1 episode. Interesting telenovela) Whenever I mentioned I'm Malaysian, most would said I don't sound anything like her and are left disappointed.

Hence, I decided to conduct an experiment (more than once I might add) to see if the local salespersons could tell if I'm local or not by not mentioning my Nationality or telling them I don't understand Tagalog. So whenever they started talking to me in Tagalog, I'd asked the salesperson(s) to converse with me in English as I'm more comfortable with the language. And it worked! But my sole Pinoy travel companion (who never translated for me so he could laugh at my expense, that devil incarnate) told me those who converse in English are usually upper class Pinoys so I did get some dirty looks whenever I made the request. But hey, at least they thought I was local. Hehe..

There's this taxi driver who took me for a ride to the Enchanted Kingdom (about an hr from Manila) last Halloween, who initially thought I was from another province up north when he heard me conversing with one of my travel buddy in Malay. I recalled his words vividly ' Miss, why do you look Pinay? Do you have Filipino blood?' I told him no, not that Im aware of.

And he said to me 'No. I KNOW you have Pinoy blood. You are not Malaysian. I have met Malaysians and Singaporeans tourists in Manila. They are fair-skin with slanted eyes and they have funny English accent. I can understand your English clearly, M'am'

He's convinced I'm from Pampanga, because of my accent.(Which wasn't in my itinerary, sayang di ba). Even after dropping me at my hotel, he still thought I was Pinay. Which I don't really mind because majority of em look like urban Malays to me anyway. He ended up giving me really good rates for a return trip (2000PHP/4 persons) from Manila->Sta Rosa->Makati->Manila->Mandaluyong. Ah.. the perks of being mistaken as a local is good news for my wallet.

Aside from our language similarity, I noticed some similarity with both culture i.e : ManoPo-PI/Bersalam-Malaysia(exactly the same from gestures to whom u give ur respect to); eating with our hands, never being on time. ('Filipino time', which is similar to Malaysia's 'I'm on the way' culture), Balik Kampung/BalikBayan, bargaining..

[salamat]

Too true! I went for a holiday in Boracay & Manila last October and everywhere I went, people started talking Tagalog with me. I usually responded in English without really understanding what is being said because I'm under the assumption its always something along the lines of 'Welcome/Do u need anything/ What can I do for you' etc... Until 3 or 4 Tagalog sentences later that I'm left dumbfounded and eventually tell them that I'm Malaysian.

Most are surprised and said I don't look or sound Malaysian. See, Carmen Soo was huge in PI for her role in Kahit Isang Saglit while I was there. (I did get to watch 1 episode. Interesting telenovela) Whenever I mentioned I'm Malaysian, most would said I don't sound anything like her and are left disappointed.

Hence, I decided to conduct an experiment (more than once I might add) to see if the local salespersons could tell if I'm local or not by not mentioning my Nationality or telling them I don't understand Tagalog. So whenever they started talking to me in Tagalog, I'd asked the salesperson(s) to converse with me in English as I'm more comfortable with the language. And it worked! But my sole Pinoy travel companion (who never translated for me so he could laugh at my expense, that devil incarnate) told me those who converse in English are usually upper class Pinoys so I did get some dirty looks whenever I made the request. But hey, at least they thought I was local. Hehe..

There's this taxi driver who took me for a ride to the Enchanted Kingdom (about an hr from Manila) last Halloween, who initially thought I was from another province up north when he heard me conversing with one of my travel buddy in Malay. I recalled his words vividly ' Miss, why do you look Pinay? Do you have Filipino blood?' I told him no, not that Im aware of.

And he said to me 'No. I KNOW you have Pinoy blood. You are not Malaysian. I have met Malaysians and Singaporeans tourists in Manila. They are fair-skin with slanted eyes and they have funny English accent. I can understand your English clearly, M'am'

He's convinced I'm from Pampanga, because of my accent.(Which wasn't in my itinerary, sayang di ba). Even after dropping me at my hotel, he still thought I was Pinay. Which I don't really mind because majority of em look like urban Malays to me anyway. He ended up giving me really good rates for a return trip (2000PHP/4 persons) from Manila->Sta Rosa->Makati->Manila->Mandaluyong. Ah.. the perks of being mistaken as a local is good news for my wallet.

Aside from our language similarity, I noticed some similarity with both culture i.e : ManoPo-PI/Bersalam-Malaysia(exactly the same from gestures to whom u give ur respect to); eating with our hands, never being on time. ('Filipino time', which is similar to Malaysia's 'I'm on the way' culture), Balik Kampung/BalikBayan, bargaining..

Im not suprised if filipinos have some similarity in culture with malays.
The Philippines pre-spanish was in fact influenced by the hinudistic culture of neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia.
In fact men and women wore sarongs back in the day. And the written language of the Philippines looks a little like sanskrit.

LOL he thought you were Pampangan....I heard that the pampangan language is th closest sounding language to that of Bahasa Malay