Akar Nusa
A woman opens her results on her phone. She reads "Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia". She smiles, then wonders: so what am I, really?
The story
This page is a fair, short list.
What DNA can tell you - Which groups of people today your DNA is most like. - A mother-line thread and, for men, a father-line thread, going back thousands of years. - Whether two people share a recent relative (in tests that offer it).
What DNA cannot tell you - Your race, your religion, your culture or your language. Those are lived, learned and chosen in families and communities. - Your legal status. In Malaysia, status such as citizenship or bumiputera status is set by law and by documents, never by a DNA result. - A full family tree. Your DNA is a patchwork and some ancestors leave almost nothing in it. - Who is "pure". Scientists say no group of people has ever been biologically pure or closed off.
Where you can still see it today
Look at a Malaysian food court. Nasi lemak, roti canai, char kway teow, yong tau foo, laksa. Every dish is a mix. Families are the same. Our history is full of trade and marriage.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
People share about 99.9 percent of their DNA. The small part that differs does not sort neatly into the social groups we use every day. The scientists of the AABA say race is a way societies grouped people, not a clear biological fact, and that no group has ever been "pure".
A test result is a family map for curiosity and pride. Please do not use it to decide who belongs, or who is who.
