Adat in the city: Some perceptions and practices among urban Malays

Abstract

Few terms in Malay are as commonly used or as variably interpreted as the word adat.1 Adat is a crucial underpinning of Malay life, but no two Malays can totally agree as to its precise nature or range of coverage. It is at once all-encompassing of the Malay way of life, yet can have very specific connotations in the ceremonial and religious spheres. Formally and historically in the Malay peninsula two distinct types of adat are recognised: adat temenggong and adat perpateh. The first is usually described with reference to a system of kinship which follows a bilateral rule of descent and inheritance, whereas the latter, confined almost exclusively to Negri Sembilan where dwell the descendants of the Minangkabau immigrants from West Sumatra, is associated with a matrilineal rule of descent and a political structure based upon the kinship system. The other major concern with adat, both perpateh and temenggong in the research and literature, has been with so-called adat-law, or the definition of rights to property, rank and other privi leges in traditional Malay society. Studies of adat-?2cw have chiefly been