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Malay Polysemy and Political Power: Census Categories, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in Brunei Darussalam

2001; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 9; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5367/000000001101297379

2043-6874

Allen R. Maxwell,

Asian Studies and History

The concept of being Malay has a unique significance in Brunei Darussalam. Any understanding of Brunei requires a comprehension of the local importance of being Malay. The history of demographic enumeration in north-west Borneo in the twentieth century illustrates how Brunei differs from her Malaysian neighbours. The polysemous nature of the ethnonym malayu in Brunei entails numerous meanings of 'Malay', preventing an understanding of ethnicity based on any 'one-word-one-meaning' approach to local reality. The fact that citizenship in Brunei is based on jus sanguinis, rather than jus soli, generates a category of 'stateless' persons who are citizens of no country.