Comments by "Angry Kittens" (@AngryKittens) on "Kingdom of Majapahit - The Golden Reign - Part 4 - Extra History" video.

  1. No. The similarity in language is because all maritime Southeast Asian peoples are Austronesians with common ancestors. The Philippine islands were settled earlier from proto-Austronesians coming from Taiwan. From there, Austronesian settlers spread outward to Micronesia, eastern Malaysia, southern Vietnam, and eastern Indonesia before moving on further to other islands (including Java). This is the reason why Philippine languages are still very closely related to the ancestral proto-Austronesian languages of aboriginal Taiwanese. They are also more complex, retaining the grammar of prefixes, infixes, and suffixes which have been lost in western Austronesian groups, but retained in eastern Indonesian/Malaysian languages (Minahasan, Moluccan, Dayak, etc.), Micronesian languages, and Polynesian languages. Kingdoms in the Philippines (especially the major trading kingdoms of Manila/Tondo, Cebu, Butuan, Sulu, Maguindanao, and Maranao) did, however, trade with Javanese and Malay kingdoms, and had diplomatic relations. But they weren't vassals of them. They were too far away. Contact with the kingdoms of western Nusantara was largely secondary, through trade and contact with Brunei and Gowa. This is also the reason for the cultural similarities, especially in the diffusion of Hindu-Buddhist culture as well as the Kawi script (which became the Filipino baybayin). But there are major differences. The Philippine kris (kalis) for example, is a sword, not a dagger. Kali Majapahit is a MODERN fusion martial art. A combination of Filipino Kali and Indonesian/Malaysian Silat. Kali is native to the Philippines and is derived from the indigenous term for sword fencing, itself derived from the term kalis (sword) and is related to the Malay/Indonesian word keris or kris. The ethnic groups of the Philippines are also NOT Javanese, nor descendants of Javanese. Neither are they Malays, which is another common misconception.
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  2. No. Eastern Indonesian culture is quite different from western Indonesian culture, they were not unified cultures (though again, they are ALL Austronesians). Eastern Indonesians are more closely related to southern Filipinos and to Melanesians/Negritos. Similar to how the people of Sabah in Malaysia are also more closely related to southern Filipinos than to true Malays in Peninsular Malaysia. The Sama or Bajau people (whom you call "Bajo") are from the Philippines, not the other way around. They migrated to Sulawesi from their homelands in the Sulu Sea at around the 10th century AD, creating colonies in areas that were traditionally Makassar or Bugis. That's the reason why in Indonesia and Malaysia, they do not really have native lands (except for some Bajau territories in Sabah) and thus build houses in the sea. In the Philippines, they actually have traditional lands. Including the islands of the Tawi-Tawi archipelago as well as coastal areas in Basilan and in mainland Mindanao. Linguistically, the Bajau people are still closely related to the native ethnic groups of Mindanao. Same with most of the eastern Indonesian ethnic groups in northern Sulawesi, like the the Minahasans, the Sangirese, the Mongondow, and the Gorontaloans. All of which are more like Filipinos, and not western Indonesians like Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, or Sumatrans. Their languages have mostly the same grammar as Filipino languages, very different from Bahasa.
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