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The modernMalay andIndonesian alphabet (Brunei,Malaysia andSingapore:Tulisan Rumi,lit. 'Roman script / Roman writing',Indonesian:Aksara Latin,lit. 'Latin script') consists of the 26 letters of theISO basic Latin alphabet.^[1] It is the more common of the two alphabets used today to write theMalay language, the other beingJawi (a modifiedArabic script). The Latin Malay alphabet is the official Malay script inIndonesia (asIndonesian),Malaysia (also calledMalaysian) andSingapore, while it is co-official withJawi inBrunei.

Historically, various scripts such asPallava,Kawi andRencong orSurat Ulu were used to writeOld Malay, until they were replaced byJawi duringIslamicmissionary missions in theMalay Archipelago.

The arrival ofEuropeancolonial powers brought the Latin alphabet to the Malay Archipelago. As theMalay-speaking countries were divided between two colonial administrations (theDutch and theBritish), two major different spellingorthographies were developed in theDutch East Indies andBritish Malaya respectively, influenced by the orthographies of their respective colonial tongues. TheVan Ophuijsen Spelling System used in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia was based on theDutch alphabet. It was replaced by the simplerRepublican Spelling System in 1947.

In 1972, as part of the effort of harmonizing spelling differences between the two countries, Indonesia and Malaysia each adopted aspelling reform plan, called thePerfected Spelling System (Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan) in Indonesia and theNew Rumi Spelling (Ejaan Rumi Baharu)^[2] in Malaysia.

Although the representations of speech sounds are now largely identical in Indonesian and other neighbouring Malay varieties, a number of minor spelling differences remain.^[3]

Enhanced Indonesian Spelling System (Indonesian:Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan, abbreviated as EYD),New Rumi Spelling (Malay:Ejaan Rumi Baharu).

The Malay alphabet has aphonemic orthography; words are spelled the way they are pronounced, with a notabledefectiveness: /ə/ and /e/ are both written as E/e. The names of the letters, however, differ betweenIndonesia and rest of theMalay-speaking countries; while Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore follow the letter names of theEnglish alphabet,Indonesia largely follows the letter names of theDutch alphabet, making its implementation more faithful to the actual phonemic values of each letter. The letters otherwise represent the same sounds in allMalay-speaking countries.

The letters F, Q, V, X and Z are not used in spelling native Malay/Indonesian words, the letters F and Z is also exclusively used in proper names only, e.g.Rizki orFakfak. F and Z occur inloanwords from Arabic (e. g.fatah 'conquest, opening',zaman 'era, period, time') and from European languages (e. g.faktor 'factor',zoologi 'zoology'). V is used in loanwords from European languages (e. g.visa 'visa',provinsi 'province'). The letter Q is very rare: it is used for Arabic ﻕ in some loanwords, particularly related to religion:Qur'an, Al-Qur'an (spelling these words with the apostrophe is recommended by the Indonesian Ministry of Religion, the variantsQuran andAlquran are deprecated; Malaysia usesQuran, Al-Quran),qari/qariah 'male/female Quran reader',qanun 'law established by Muslim sovereigns or by Aceh autonomous provincial government' (alsoqanun (instrument)). But many loanwords from Arabic words with ﻕ usek instead:makam 'tomb',mutlak 'absolute, complete'. Some words are spelled withq in Malaysia but withk in Indonesia:qasidah/kasidah 'qasida'. European loanwords use the letterk instead ofq:kualiti (Malaysian)/kualitas (Indonesian) 'quality',frekuensi 'frequency'. The letter X is also very rare: it is used at the beginning of loanwords, e. g.xilofon 'xylophone', but replaced byks at the middle and at the end of loanwords:taksi 'taxi',lateks 'latex',teks 'text' (some consonant clusters are regularly simplified at the end of loanwords:-st>-s, -nt>-n, -kt>-k).

* Many vowels are pronounced (and were formerly spelt) differently in Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra (where Malay is native):tujuh is pronounced (and was spelt)tujoh,rambut asrambot,kain askaen,pilih aspileh, etc., [e] and [o] are also allophones of /i/ and /u/ in closed final syllables in peninsular Malaysian and Sumatran. Many vowels were pronounced and formerly spelt differently that way also in East Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.

In addition, there aredigraphs that are not considered separate letters of the alphabet:^[4]

• Jawi alphabet
• Congress Spelling System
• Javanese orthography

• Malay alphabet
• Omniglot
• Coba-coba(Cuba-cuba) Indonesian & Malay
• Pedoman Umum Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia (PUEBI)
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