1. Malays (Asian people) – Indonesia – Kepulauan Riau 2. Bugis (Malay people) – Indonesia – Kepulauan Riau 3. Ethnology – Indonesia – Kepulauan Riau In Indonesia's Riau Islands Province, ethnic Malays are the proud heirs and custodians of a rich legacy associated with a once-sprawling Malay empire that stretched across present-day transnational borders from Indonesia, to Singapore, to Malaysia. Malays of Bugis descent have long played a disproportionately central role in the history, and the historiography or "history-telling", of the region that now encompasses Indonesia's Riau Islands Province. While steadfastly "Malay", members of this community readily acknowledge that their ethnically Bugis roots maintain an enduring historical and ideological salience in their everyday lives. However, transregional economic trends and rapid sociodemographic shift shaped by ongoing migration flows have led to feelings of "marginalization" (peminggiran) among the islands' Malay-Bugis community. While international focus continues to centre on Indonesia's Chinese-pribumi divide as diagnostic of Indonesian inter-ethnic and religious relations on edge, a grounded assessment of ethnicity in the Riau islands offers an alternative perspective on these important issues.