Nicholas J. Long's book unravels the meaning of being Malay in the Riau Archipelago, the newly established Indonesian province, by combining the theoretical concept of Being and stories of local people living on the islands. Long spent more than two and half years conducting ethnographic fieldwork in the Riau Archipelago, which began just a year after the Indonesian government's decentralisation policy and the 2004 establishment (pemekaran or “blossoming”) of the province. He collected local stories to address a long-standing question of Malay identity. The question relates to issues such as the “sociality” of plural societies; the consequences of Indonesia's post-authoritarian turn to decentralisation and democracy; and the intersection of local, national, and transnational registers of citizenship and belonging in an archipelago that was once said to epitomise the future of an increasingly globalised and “borderless” world (p. 3).

In Chapter 1, Long carefully introduces his anthropological approach. He challenges constructivist and political-economy approaches by bringing attention to the “affective turn” in the discipline, where emotions, mood, and feelings in the research environment are important for comprehending the texture of everyday life in Malay society on the islands (p. 4). Long encountered many interlocutors who explained that the province was created because of indigenous Malay dissatisfaction with the previous centralised government, which had exploited local resources but had neglected the development of local social services and infrastructure. Long develops the understanding of “being Malay” by discussing Sartre's definition of “bad faith” in Being and Nothingness (p. 8). To contextualise this, he reveals the case of Pangkal Pinang's mayor, Hj. Suryatati Abdul Manan, who had to defend her Malay identity in court when a claim was make that she was of Chinese descent by Hendry Frankim, a prominent local politician and member of the Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD). To regain the trust of Malays in the city, Suryatati, who is also a noted poet, delivered the poem ‘Am I A Malay…?’ at halal bihalal (a local Muslim ceremony held after the end of Ramadhan) in 2006. The ceremony was organised by a local organisation, Azam Melayu Satu, which translates to “With Intention of One Malayness” (pp. 11–16). The book urges readers to rethink the meaning of “Malayness” in the Riau Archipelago following the implementation of the new decentralisation programmes.

In the following chapter, Long uncovers the geopolitical history of Tanjung Pinang as the “heartland of Malay culture” in the 1780s and the present capital city of Riau Archipelago (p. 31). This chapter reveals that only 30% of the people in Tanjung Pinang declared themselves to be Malay and that even fewer do so in the province. Interviews in the chapter demonstrate how Malays felt threatened by the growing presence of other ethnic groups, especially the Batak and Minangkabau people. A high-ranking officer explained that the civil service has been prioritising Malay recruitment in order to limit job opportunities for other ethnic groups (p. 60). In Chapter 4, Long deepens his study through observations of the political and economic interaction between Malays and other ethnic groups on Tanjung Pinang. The powerful narrative describes how the influx of Chinese, Minangkabau, and other traders drove Malays from the marketplace. Fatimah, a Malay woman, stated that Malays were “easily tricked out of their land and their jobs” and were “so stupid that they let it happen” (p. 105). However, Long notes that the available historical evidence hardly showed such economic marginalisation. In one interview on the history of Tanjung Pinang's markets, Maznah, another local Malay, revealed that there were more “Kelings” (Indian Muslim immigrants from Bengal, Malabar and Coromandel) than Malays in the marketplace up to the 1960s (p. 106). This information, which is carefully presented in the book, is fairly scant in official Malay histories of Riau.

The history of Malays in Tanjung Pinang and the Riau Islands is revealed as socially problematic. Chapter 3, entitled “Poisoned Histories”, begins with Long's description of how Rahmi, a Malay woman, asked him to leave her house as soon as he brought up questions about her past. Long quoted her as saying, “I am just a simple woman. Please do not talk to me. If they know I have been speaking to you, they will poison me. They will poison me like they poisoned me last time. Like they poisoned my husband…” (p. 63). She calmed down only when her son explained that Long was not a historian but an anthropologist. Thus, in this chapter, Long makes the point that talking about their history was dangerous to them and could even result in them being poisoned by traditional “black magic”.

Chapter 8 discusses Long's involvement in the Bujang Dara, a beauty contest for unmarried young men (bujang) and women (dara). The contest underlines the crucial question regarding the perception of Malay identity among Malays themselves (pp. 206–241). The contest, as Long concludes, reveals confusion over the scope, limit, and character of “Malayness”. He also indicated a growing suspicion that “Malayness” was a malleable claim, and that the cultural and political requirements of “being Malay” were the result of people's bad faith towards the previous administration. However, whether these social and political changes have significant implications for Riau Malays remains uncertain.

At the conclusion of the book, Long admits that some of his analysis may not be “entirely novel”, such as whether the local government is capable of ensuring the development of the islands and improving the lives of Malays (p. 243). Long, however, has provided a good elaboration on the main question of “being Malay in Indonesia”, as well as on Malay histories and citizenship. Indonesian political and social life made another drastic shift after the latest presidential election in mid-2014. The hope that Malays in the Riau Archipelago can control their own destiny by electing a representative from their ethnic group has been made more difficult by the implementation of a new state law in 2014. This law has removed people's right to directly choose their representative, who will now be from the Central Representative Council (President of Indonesian Republic 2014).