You might hear your Malay friends referring to Caucasians as “Mat Salleh” – but do you know where this term came from? The Backlog investigates the origins of this slang word.

I ran a search in Google about the origin of ‘Mat Salleh’, and most of the blog posts returned tell the same tale. They say the term actually originated from the term ‘Mad Sailor’. This was because during the British rule, there were many British sailors who often got drunk and harassed the people. Some locals were beaten up, while some were even raped. The locals began to call the British ‘Mad Sailors’. However, due to some problems with pronunciation, the locals could only managed to say something like ‘Mat Seler’. This, in time, became what we know today as ‘Mat Salleh’.

But is there more to the etymological origins for Mat Salleh? Find out more on The Backlog.

Tags: Mat Salleh