I remember when I was first learning about settler colonialism, I thought to myself: “Huh, this sounds like Taiwan and Israel” My instincts were correct on Israel, but I never looked too deeply into Taiwan. The fact that the Kuomintang displaced the Austronesian natives is a pretty strong indicator, but is Taiwan really a settler colonial state or are my intuitions wrong?
Bumiputera is a largely meaningless term since foreign Malays are included in the number, and Malay is also a meaningless term itself for determining indigeneity as someone is considered constitutionally Malay if they are, “Born to a Malaysian citizen who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, adheres to Malay customs, and is domiciled in Malaysia, Singapore or Brunei”.
That also ignores the history that all “Malays” were settlers except for the Negritos and Orang Asli who were displaced and enslaved. Just because the settler colonialism happened centuries ago doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.