Ancient Malay Laws Regarding Business Rules and Ethics Enacted in the Malaysian Peninsula

Abstract

The strategic geographical location and wealth of natural resources had placed the Malay Peninsula as the centre of trade since the Hindu-Buddhist era and continued after the advent of Islam, where the trading activity became increasingly active. Due to this, the Malays had created a set of laws concerning business regulations and ethics which were legislated and enacted long before the arrival of the British in the 19 th century. Therefore, it is important for us to discuss and analyse the existing pre-colonial laws of the Malays as this will prove that the Malay Kingdom in ancient times were already highly civilized. In order to do this, this study will adopt the qualitative method to analyse four (4) ancient laws in the Malay kingdom, namely the Hukum Kanun Melaka, Hukum Kanun Pahang, Undang-Undang 99 Negeri Perak and Undang-Undang Kedah. This study also has two (2) objectives: (i) to examine the legal provisions related to business rules and ethics contained in the law, (ii) to prove that the Malay Kingdoms before the arrival of the British were already civilized based on the ancient laws which highlights the importance of ethics and rules in trade. Findings from this study discovered that several provision of the relevant laws and rules pertaining to business ethics had already exited in the canons of Malay law before the 17 th century AD. This includes ethics in usury (riba), prohibition of selling items prohibited in Islam (alcohol, dogs and pigs), condition and certainty of the price, quantity and quality of the item, freedom of choice and buying, return policy and real estate to name a few. This proves that the government and people of Peninsula Malaysia were already concerned about ethics in business. Hence, further