embrace Islam and follow Malay customs too". The impact of this institutionalised assimilation efforts has been tremendous to the demographics in certain area of the peninsular. One instance was in the Sedili valley, where modern anthropologists discovered in the 1970s that villages formerly reported by travellers to be Jakun, are now Malay communities. In the multi-ethnic state of Sabah, the period of Mustapha Harun leadership (1967–1976) saw the processes of Malayisation and Islamisation, which from the federal government's view appeared to be a check on Kadazandusun nationalism and was therefore perceived as an integration and unifying process with the other native Muslim society, namely the Bajaus, Bruneis, Sungei and Ida'an. The then-mostly pagan Kadazandusun traditionally formed minority of a third of the state population and inhabited the western shores of Sabah. The successor Berjaya government under Harris Salleh continued the same policies. The state government promoted Malay language in government-aided schools, sponsored the Quran-reading competitions and organised various dawah activities. All these the Berjaya government considered to be in line with the spirit of Article 12(2) of the Constitution of Malaysia that provide legitimacy for the state to promote and assist in the funding of Islamic institutions and instruction, the core of which was to be derived from Malay-Muslim elements. Brunei The traditional Malay notion of fealty to a ruler, charged to protect Islam in his territory, is still central in both Malaysia and Brunei. In Brunei, this has been institutionalised under the state ideology of Melayu Islam Beraja ("Malay Islamic Monarchy"). As a still functioning Malay sultanate, Brunei places Islamic institutions at the centre of the state's interest. It retains an elaborated Malay social hierarchy central to the community. As a result, there are two kind of Malayness in Brunei: the general Malay cultural pattern to which most of the population have by now assimilated, and the higher ranking social position labelled as "Berunai" which distinguishes some of those cultural-Malays from others. The other main community, the Kedayans, still rank lower, despite being Muslims and living in a manner virtually identical to that of the Orang Berunai. Thus, unlike what happens elsewhere, assimilation to Malay cultural pattern in Brunei does not necessarily eradicate difference. Singapore Singapore was once the powerhouse of sophisticated Malay cultural production, until Kuala Lumpur took over in the 1970s. Malays were the most urbanised of the island's three main races, and there was no such