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In the study of the history of the Islamization of the Malay Archipelago (present-day Malaysia and Indonesia) various theories and points of view have been presented and the issue of objectivity arises in this context as clearly as in any writing of history. Mannheim's thesis that "the greatest comprehensiveness and the greatest fruitfulness in dealing with empirical materials" are the criteria to be applied in the choice between various interpretations' would seem to be relevant also in this case.
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Syed Farid Alatas (1985) studied this question.
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