This article was written by Philippine historian Felice Noelle Rodriguez and first published in the Oceans that Speak: Islam and the Emergence of the Malay World, Siti Marina Mohd Maidin, pp. 26-33. Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, 2024. The book was published in conjunction with the ‘Oceans that Speak: Islam and the Emergence of the Malay World’ exhibition held at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia from 13 December 2024 until 15 June 2025. The term “nusantara” is derived from the Javanese words “nusa” (island) and “antara” (between), suggesting a collection of islands.

The vast waters of the Malay Archipelago (Nusantara) are dotted with countless islands. These seas hold stories of peoples and cultures that connect and interact in many varied ways over time. In the ebb and flow of time, there is constant exchange and interaction, vibrant movements, shaped by the currents and monsoon winds.

Today’s Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago of 7,641 islands in the larger Southeast Asian Nusantara. Its waterways linked peoples in the various islands and beyond. It is now commonplace to divide the Philippine nation into three main groups of islands, from north to south: Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. The different Philippine cultures are incredibly varied, with more than a hundred indigenous languages still spoken to this day. The cultures and polities are interconnected at different times in different ways, and subject to many, sometimes contradictory, influences.

One of these cultures whose history runs the course of much of the region is the Bajau, a sea people whose waters span the length and breadth of maritime Nusantara. One story narrates how they came to Sulu waters from Johor:

“Long ago, the Bajau lived in boats at Johor on the other side of Mecca. One day a great storm approached. To save the boats from being blown away, the headman stuck a pole into what he thought was the seafloor. He tied his boat to the pole, and the other five hundred boats were tied to him in single file. After the storm passed, leaving the Bajau unharmed, all the people went to sleep. Unknowingly, the head man had stuck his pole into a sleeping, giant stingray and while the Bajau slept, the ray awakened and pulled their boats to the open sea where they were left.

For one week, the Bajau drifted in the open sea, not knowing where they were. Finally, a man prayed to Tuhan [God] to help them in their plight. Tuhan sent down a saitan [spirit] which entered the man (the first shaman, or djin among the Bajau) and told him they should sail toward the east for two days. They did so and eventually reached land. Upon reaching shallow waters, they stuck a mooring pole (called samboang) into the reef and tied their boats to it. The place came to be called ‘Samboangan’ (‘mooring place’), or Zamboanga as it is known today, the first mooring place in Sulu. The Bajau then became the subjects of the Sultan of Sulu who gave groups of them as parts of dowries to different datu scattered throughout the Sulu Islands. That is how they came to be located in their present homes.”[1]

The story demonstrates the fluidity of movement, the state of drifting with the currents that brought the Bajau as far as Sulu, and how they figured in the founding legends of Zamboanga. It was not only through oral histories that the interconnected histories of Nusantara survived. One of the earliest archaeological finds and most famous earthenware piece in the Philippines represents its seafaring. Even in death, the journey of the soul in the afterlife is represented as a journey on water. The Manunggul terracotta burial jar was found in the secondary burial site in Lipuun Point, south of the Tabon Cave.[2] This burial jar, dated to 890–710 BC, has a lid with two human figures in a boat (Fig. 1). The person behind has both hands on the paddle. The figure in front, with his hands crossed over his chest, may represent the person interred in the jar. “In many ways this representation recalls death ceremonies still practised or practised in the recent past in Southeast Asia.”[3]

Written documents and archaeological evidence reveal interconnections among different groups and polities like Butuan, Sulu, Manila and Maguindanao within the Malay maritime world, as well as beyond through long distance trade. Inherent in these artefacts is the motif of movement: these were not static cultures, but constantly shifting, always dynamic, and always in relation to one another. Their distinctness lay in their interconnections. Shipwrecks have left possible clues of cultures and technologies in the making of boats, wares transported, and inter-island connections.[4]

Butuan Boats

In Butuan, in the northeast of Mindanao in southern Philippines, eleven pre-colonial lashed-lug built boats were discovered. Dated between the eighth and tenth centuries AD, archaeologist Ligaya Lacsina has highlighted the similarities and differences among the boats found. Comparing them to those from other parts of the Philippines and Southeast Asia, they confirm that cultures change over time, while boatbuilding techniques could also have been shared.[5]

“Butuan lies strategically near the mouth of the Agusan River, which empties out to Butuan Bay. Archaeological data suggest that the mouth of the river became an important sanctuary for seafarers around the ninth to the tenth century. Eventually, a permanent settlement emerged, serving as an important entrepot in a trading network that brought in goods from China, India, Borneo, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Africa and the Middle East. Trade flourished from the tenth to the thirteenth century …”[6]

Butuan was the first polity from today’s Philippines to have sent tribute missions to China, as recorded in the Chinese annals. The Song Shi (Sung Dynasty History) mentions tribute-trade missions sent from P’u-tuan (Butuan) from 1001 to 1011. The earliest entry described the distant land: “Butuan is in the sea. It has had mutual relations with Champa, but not much communication with China.”[7] Showing Butuan’s trade relations with other polities can be gleaned from the trade products it brought as gifts: camphor from Borneo and cloves from the Maluku islands”.[8] Other trade missions were sent to China in “1003, 1004, 1007 and 1011”.[9] Mary Jane Louise Bolunia studied tenth-century Butuan artefacts and ceramics from China, Vietnam and Thailand to suggest, “gold ornaments, beads, ivory seal, paraphernalia and the boats” point to a vibrant regional trade.

However, we do not hear more of Butuan in the Chinese annals after 1011. And in 1521, when Ferdinand Magellan asked the Rajahs of Butuan and Limasawa for a place to trade, they made no mention of Butuan, instead recommending Cebu as the main trading port. Interestingly, Miguel López de Legazpi wanted to visit Butuan as late as 1565 because “… it is a trading town, it was impossible that it would not have somebody who understood Malay because that is the most common in these parts”.[10] Scott states that the “Butuanon themselves migrated south to settle in Sulu, where they became known as “people of the current”— Taosug — establishing a major entrepot on the Moluccan spice route …”[11]

Thus, tribute trade missions from Sulu were mentioned in the Chinese annals four centuries later. Despite this, there is rich archaeological evidence that indicates the continuing richness of commerce and trade during the period. Other shipwrecks give us an idea of different trade connections in these waters, two of which are given here; the Belitung shipwreck, dated to 826 to 840, and the Pandanan wreck of the fourteenth century.

Belitung Shipwreck

A shipwreck from over a millennium ago was excavated at the end of the twentieth century. It was found off Belitung island in the Java Sea, east of Sumatra, south of the Straits of Melaka and west of Mindanao. The Changsha ceramics (dated 826) and Chinese coins found have been dated to 826–840.[12] This indicates trade connections between the Persian Gulf and China, via the Nusantara, or island Southeast Asia, dating back well over a thousand years. The ship is believed to be Omani built, based on “analysis of construction methods, hull form, and timber species”.[13] Although the ship was probably made near the Persian Gulf, later wadding and restitching was probably done in Southeast Asia.[14] Most interesting, and very telling of the fluidity, so to speak, of the waters without the present boundaries of nation is the observation: “Just as the Europeans did in later times, the Arabs could have taken on Southeast Asian crews to make up the numbers. Likewise, they could have taken on Southeast Asian pilots with a sound knowledge of local waters, and perhaps of the entire route north”.[15] The ship must have come from China as it carried thousands of Chinese ceramics (Changsa, Guangdong, Gongxian and Yue whiteware with green decoration, Xing ceramics and more).

Links among these different worlds are captured by a blue and white dish: “The characteristic white finish to the dishes indicates that they were most likely produced at the Gongxian kilns. However, the cobalt for the blue glaze would have been sourced in Iran. The lozenge and palmette motifs are of Iranian inspiration. So, dishes produced in China with the key raw material (cobalt) shipped from the Middle East were then sold back to the Middle East.”[16]

Pandanan Shipwreck

The Pandanan shipwreck also reflects the significance of exchange and trade. A Southeast Asian shipwreck was found between the southernmost tip of Palawan and Pandanan islands. Believed to be from the mid-fifteenth century, it is thought to have been a boat from Southeast Asia, possibly from Vietnam or south China. Its cargo included Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese ceramics, some plain pottery and iron cauldrons. Of the 4,772 artefacts, 72.4% of the Pandanan collection were Vietnamese ceramics.[17] And more specifically, a comparative study of the thousands of Indo-Pacific type glass beads found has led archaeologist Jun G. Cayron to hypothesise based on “style, form, and technological attributes of the beads” to the manufacturing source as the Sungai Mas site in Malaysia.[18] This archaeological find involves a Southeast-Asian ship with cargo, mostly from the region, in Philippine waters, suggesting regional trade there.[19]

Laguna Copper-plate Inscription

Remarkably, a native text in the Philippines has also been found that speaks to the robustness of contact and exchange in Nusantara. The Laguna copper-plate inscription is one of the earliest texts found in the Philippine archipelago linking the northern part of the Philippines to the Malay world (Fig. 4). Ten lines of early Kawi script used in the tenth century were inscribed on a 20 x 30 cm thin copper plate. The text writes off a family’s debt. Some names and titles of people, including officials, are given. Place names in the Bulacan area, that exist even to this day, are also mentioned.

Transcription and translation by Antoon Postma suggest a date around 900. Although this is a one-of-a-kind discovery in the Philippines, a fair number of such inscribed copper plates, using the Old Javanese Kawi language, have been found in Java and other parts of the region. Interestingly, the Laguna copper-plate inscription’s main language is Old Malay.[20] It contains: “… several words that are identical or closely related to the Old Tagalog language … of the Philippines. Clear cognates to Tagalog (Old and/or Modern) of certain words found in the LCI are: anak (child), dayang (noblewoman), hadapan (in front), hutang (debt), lap(p)as (acquitted of debt), ngaran (name), pam(a)gat (chief), tuhan (honourable person), and others etymologically related. As a clarification, however, it should be said that several of these words are shared by the Old Javanese and Old Malay languages as well, as members of the same linguistic family”.[21] This led linguist James Collins to declare that “The early Malay inscriptions of 1300 years ago bear witness to the cosmopolitan, international setting of the language. The geographic distribution of the inscriptions and their Indian orthography are paralleled by the complex juxtaposition of Malay and Sanskrit words in the texts themselves.”[22]

The text is testament to influence and exchange across the seas as Old Malay was used, together with Sanskrit, Old Tagalog and Old Javanese as well. Names of peoples and toponyms reflect the local, but some titles and other words reflect outside influences.

Luções in Melaka

One cannot discuss commerce and cultural exchange in the pre-colonial Malay world without considering Melaka. Critical reconsideration of Melaka’s role during the long fifteenth century, before the Portuguese conquest of 1511, suggests a major trading empire grew from a village in less than a century. This transformed it into the greatest port in the world, according to contemporary Portuguese writer Tomé Pires from Lisbon, soon after the Portuguese conquest of 1511.

Indeed, during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), China policies affecting trade in the area changed significantly. Emperor Yongle, who came to the throne in 1402, started a new programme affecting relations with others in maritime Asia.[23] “One of the first decisions he made was to confirm the trade along the entire length of the Chinese coasts. He then sent missions to various countries to announce his accession… Early next year, the first mission from Southeast Asia arrived with tribute.”[24] The first mention of Melaka in the Chinese annals is in the Ming Shih-lu in 1403 when Emperor Yongle sent Yin Ch’ing to Melaka.[25] Such an expedition was a testament to Melaka’s importance.

In an age of sail, Melaka was “where monsoons meet”, the meeting place of East and West, connecting China and East Asia to India and beyond. It became “a great emporium not only for goods, but ideas — the propagation of Malay as a lingua franca, of Islam, and of cultural practices as well”.[26] In this entrepot, Pires noted, 84 languages were spoken.

This included a community of Luções, referring to people from Luzon, the large northern island in the Philippine archipelago, grouped together with the Javanese, Moluccans, Banda, Palembang and Tamjompura under a common shahbandar or harbour master.[27] There was even a large village of Luções in Mjmjam in the northwest of Melaka which traded, sent out ships and even mined tin.[28] These Luções, Pires noted, “are about ten days’ sail beyond Borneo. … They have two or three junks, at the most. They take the merchandise to Borneo and from there they come to Malacca (Melaka).” He added, “The Borneans go to the lands of the Luções to buy gold, and foodstuffs as well, and the gold which they bring to Malacca is from the Luções and from the surrounding islands which are countless; and they all have more or less trade with one another.”[29]

Other polities also sent tribute trade missions to China during the fifteenth century period. The Philippine islands’ trade missions competed with the polities of Pangasinan and Mao-li-wu or Ho-mao-li,[30] Sulu (at Jolo), and possibly Magindanao (at Cotabato, Mindanao).[31]

Islam in Pre-colonial Philippines

Many early traders from West and South Asia who came to the Philippines were Muslim. But early contacts apparently did not lead to significant mass conversions until the late fourteenth century. Islam’s arrival saw the development of new traditions, including genealogies, in the region, influenced by earlier cultures and practices.

The Tarsila or genealogy of the Sulu royal family offers one such narrative. This Tarsila was originally written in both Malay and Tausug, the language of the “people of the current”. Tausug royalty claimed descent from Raja Baginda, of Minangkabau (Menangkabaw), Sumatra. His daughter later married Sayid Abu Bakr from Palembang, Sumatra. Upon the death of Rajah Baginda, Sayid Abu Bakr became the first Sultan of Sulu, taking the name, Sultan Sharif-ul Hashim.[32]

The other important development that proved central to evolving polities in the maritime Malay world was the Sulu sultanate. On the Sulu and Sulawesi (Celebes) seas, between Mindanao to the northeast and Borneo (Kalimantan) to the south is a string of islands. The bigger islands in the Sulu archipelago are Basilan, Jolo and Tawitawi. This is where the Sulu sultanate emerged. Eric Casiño emphasises the role of geography in the rise and consolidation of the sultanate. He stressed “its central location in the southern Philippines played a role in its social, economic and political ascendancy in the zone”.[33] Sulu was an important transit point from China en route to the Moluccas (Maluku).[34] The ecology of the Sulu zone also offered exotic products such as pearls, birds’ nests and sea cucumber. Sulu was famed for its pearls; Wang Dayuan, a traveller in Sulu during the Yuan Dynasty (1278–1368), described their superior quality: “Their colour never fades, and so they are considered the most precious rareties.”[35]

In 1369, after a clash with the Brunei sultanate, Sulu obtained its independence and, from then on, controlled the China trade. It even sent tribute trade missions to China. These missions brought gifts ostensibly to pay tribute, but also sought to confer recognition and cement ongoing relations including trade exchanges. It was meant to gain favour and trade privileges from China. It was also a means to promote the exotic products they had to offer. In 1417, for example, the tributary products consisted of “…a letter of gold, with characters engraved upon it, …pearls, precious stones, spices, tortoise shells and other articles.”

The 1417 trade tribute mission is well recorded in the Ming Shih-lu or Ming Annals with the visit of the three kings from Sulu: “…the eastern king of this country [Sulu] Paduka Pahala [Batara], the western king Ma-hala-chi’ih [Maharajah] and the king of the mountain Ka-la-ba-ting called Paduka Prabu. [They] brought their families and their chiefs, altogether more than 340 persons, and came over the sea to court in order to carry tribute.”

On his way home, Paduka Batara died in Te-chou [Dezhou, Shandong, China] where he was given a royal burial, and his tomb draws visitors to this day.[36] His two sons remained in China, intermarried and settled there. “Today, there are 21 generations of descendants of the Sulu Sultan, numbering to about 3,700 and scattered all over China…”[37]

The salsila (genealogy) of the Sama in Tawitawi speaks of the arrival of Makhdum circa 1380, with Islam spreading thereafter. The Sama of Tawitawi claim to be the first converts to Islam from Sulu. Since renovated and changed, the posts of the first mosque still stand to this day on the island of Simunul, Tawitawi.[38]

The Maguindanao in Mindanao have another genealogy, tracing the coming of Islam to a “mysterious Muslim missionary-prince from Johor, Sharif Kabungsuwan”. Sharif is said to have descended from the Prophet Muhammad via the royal family of Johor.[39]

Magellan’s expedition arrived in Cebu in the Visayas in early 1521. The interpreter Anryk was his Malay slave captured when Magalhaes (Magellan’s Portuguese name) participated in Albuquerque’s conquest of Melaka a decade earlier. Thus, Malay was used to communicate with the local rulers and other traders from the region, including a Muslim from Ciama (Siam or Champa), trading in gold and slaves.

Half a century later, in 1571, Legazpi defeated Raja Soliman, ruler of Manila, then the main trading settlement of Luzon. His uncle, Rajah Matanda, the old Rajah, was the grandson of the Bornean Sultan. He was said to have married his cousin. There appears to be significant evidence of relations between different polities.

Conversion to Islam did not mean abandoning all indigenous practices or old ways including raiding and slavery. But Muslim connections may have conferred military superiority, providing an edge in raiding and warfare, e.g. by using lantaka (light cannon) in forts and boats, keris and body armour, as well as Muslim alliances and networks. The Sulu sultanate would gain more power later in the eighteenth century as the British sought local products like sea cucumber, mother of pearl and birds’ nests for sale to China. Hence, there was a corresponding need for more human resources, often obtained by raiding. And so, more than ever before, thousands of slaves captured from all over Nusantara became part of Sulu society.[40] Thus, displacement, migration and commerce changed cultures and populations. These movements resulted in complex, sometimes competing, often complementary, hybridities, the varied legacies of which we live today.

The Philippines in Nusantara waters have stories to tell. They speak of the comings and goings of peoples. On boats, as on the lid of the Manunggul jar going back to 890–910 BC, Butuan boats from the eighth to the tenth century, the ninth century Belitung shipwreck, built in Oman, and the mid-fifteenth century Pandanan shipwreck, possibly of Vietnamese make. The crisscrossing, interwoven narratives that are held within these objects defy the modern tendency to view history through the strict lens of national stories; the waters flow where the currents bring them, with little regard for man-made borders. These rich and diverse interactions unfolded differently over the centuries. The vessels used in trade and raiding carried not only material commercial goods, but language, religion and ideas as well.

The header features a photo of the Port of Jolo, gateway to the province of Sulu (photo by Chiki, Turista Boy).

About the author

FELICE NOELLE RODRIGUEZ, PH.D. is the Director, El Kaban de Zamboanga Centre for Local History and Culture, Universidad de Zamboanga. She went to Pilar College in Zamboanga City. She studied History at University of the Philippines, Diliman, and also studied Interdisciplinary Studies at Ateneo de Manila University.

She delivered the lecture entitled “The Philippines in the Nusantara: Connections and Exchanges” at the Islamic Arts Museums Malaysia (IAMM) on 26 April 2025. It was part of the ongoing ‘Oceans That Speak’ exhibition and was jointly organized by the Philippine Embassy and IAMM.

References:

1. Arlo H. Nimmo, “Religious Beliefs of the Tawi-Tawi Bajau,” Philippine Studies 38 (1990): 13.
2. Wilhelm G. Solheim II, “A Brief Philippine Prehistory,” in The People and Art of the Philippines, ed. Belinda A. Aquino and Dean T. Alegado (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 6–9.
3. Solheim II, “A Brief Philippine Prehistory”, 6–9; Robert B. Fox, The Tabon Caves: Archaeological Explorations and Excavations on Palawan Island Philippines (Manila: National Museum, 1970), 112,114.
4. Derek Heng, “Ships, Shipwrecks, and Archaeological Recoveries as Sources of Southeast Asian History,” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, ed. David Ludden (New York: Oxford University Press,2018), 1–29.
5. Ligaya S.P. Lacsina,“The Butuan Boats: Southeast Asian Boat Construction in the Philippines at the End of the First Millenium,” The Journal of History, LXVI (2020): 1–35.
6. Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, ed., Philippine Ancestral Gold (Makati and Singapore: Ayala Foundation and NUS Press, 2011), 193.
7. Greg Hontiveros, Butuan of a Thousand Years (Butuan City: Butuan City Historical & Cultural Foundation, Inc., 2004), 38.
8. Capistrano-Baker, Philippine Ancestral Gold, 193.
9. Capistrano-Baker, Philippine Ancestral Gold, 193.
10. William Henry Scott, Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1994), 164.
11. Scott, Barangay, 164
12. Michael Flecker, “The Origin of the Tang Shipwreck: A Look at its Archaeology and History,” in The Tang Shipwreck, Art and Exchange in the 9th Century, ed. Alan Chong, Stephen A. Murphy (Singapore: Asian Civilizations Museum, 2017), 32.
13. Flecker, “The Origin of the Tang Shipwreck”, 38.
14. Flecker, “The Origin of the Tang Shipwreck”, 37.
15. Flecker, “The Origin of the Tang Shipwreck”, 38.
16. Stephen A. Murphy, “Asia in the 9th Century: The Context of the Tang Shipwreck,” in The Tang Shipwreck, Art and Exchange in the 9th Century, ed. Alan Chong, Stephen A. Murphy (Singapore: Asian Civilizations Museum, 2017), 17–18.
17. Eusebio Z. Dizon, “The Merchants of Prehistory,” in Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People, ed. Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. (Manila: Asia Publishing Company Limited, 1998), 150.
18. Jun G. Cayron, Stringing the Past, An Archaeological Understanding of Early Southeast Asian Glass Bead Trade (Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Press, 2006), 58.
19. Dizon, “The Merchants”, 145–55.
20. Antoon Postma, “The Laguna Copper Plate Inscription,” National Museum Papers 2, no. 1 (1991): 3.
21. Postma, “The Laguna”, 3.
22. James T. Collins, Malay, World Language: A Short History (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2018), 13.
23. K. N.Chaudhuri, Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 60.
24. Wang Gungwu, “Malacca in 1403,” Malaya in History 7, no. 2 (July 1962): 2.
25. John Harvey D. Gamas et al., eds., Mindanao Muslim History: Documentary Sources from the Advent of Islam to the 1800s (Davao and Quezon City: Ateneo de Davao University Publication Office and New Day Publishers, 2019).
26. Janet L. Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250–1350 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 255.
27. Tomé Pires, The Suma Oriental of Tomé Pires, An Account of the East, from the Red Sea to Japan, Written in Malacca and India in 1512–1515, and The Book of Francisco Rodrigues, Rutter of a Voyage in the Red Sea, Nautical Rules, Almanack and Maps, Written and Drawn in the East before 1515. Volume II, ed. Armando Cortesão (London: The Hakluyt Society, 1944), 265.
28. Tomé Pires, The Suma Oriental, 261.
29. Tomé Pires, Travel Accounts of the Islands 1513–1787 (Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild, 1971), 1.
30. Laura Lee Junker, Raiding, Trading and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2000), 217; Identified by Scott as a polity on either Mindoro or Marinduque, see Scott, Barangay, 75
31. Junker, Raiding, 217.
32. Gamas et al., Mindanao Muslim History, 30,35.
33. Eric Casiño, “Sulu and Tondo History and Culture: The Influence of Asian Kingdoms on their Formation,” Pre-Colonial and Pre-Islamic Maritime History and Culture in Southeast Asia (Bulacan: SEACOM Research Center,2013), 20.
34. Roderich Ptak, “The Northern Trade Route to the Spice Islands: South China Sea-Sulu Zone-North Moluccas (14th to early 16th Century),” Archipel 43, (1992): 27–56.
35. Gamas et al., Mindanao Muslim History, 41.
36. Teresita Ang See, The Ties that Bind, The Saga of the Sultan of Sulu in China (Manila: Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, Inc., 2017), 3.
37. Ang See, The Ties that Bind, 3.
38. Muhammad Kuaris II, The History of Tawi-Tawi and its People (Bonggao: Sulu College of Technology and Oceanography, 1979), 25.
39. Gamas et al., Mindanao Muslim History, 8.
40. Warren James Francis, The Sulu Zone 1768–1898: The Dynamics of External Trade Slavery and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State. 2nd ed. (Singapore: NUS Press, 2007).