ROFF, William R. (1929–2013)

William R. Roff was a historian of Malay history, a pioneering scholar in the study of Malay nationalism, Islam and Muslim societies, in Southeast Asia, in particular the Malay Peninsula where he focused his academic preoccupation and forte. He pioneered the autonomous history of ethnic peninsular Malays. His analysis and interpretation of historical works was not only drawn from documentary materials including indigenous primary sources and oral tradition but also extended beyond the spatial and time frame of the study, thereby offering a panoramic vista of the interrelatedness of the past to contemporary times. Moreover, he emphasized the indigenous viewpoint presenting an objective study as well as insightful work from within differentiating his history of ethnic Malays from other contemporary scholarly literature on Malaya.