Adat in Indonesian-Malay culture is the set of cultural norms, values, customs and practices found among specific ethnic groups in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, the southern Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 and Malaysia. For instance pakaian adat, or adat clothes, refers to the traditional clothing of a specific people.

Adat include the set of local and traditional laws and dispute resolution

Dispute resolution

Dispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between parties.-Methods:Methods of dispute resolution include:* lawsuits * arbitration* collaborative law* mediation* conciliation* many types of negotiation* facilitation...

 systems by which society was regulated. In older Malay language

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

, adat refers to the customary laws, the unwritten traditional code regulating social, political, and economical as well as maritime laws.

Two kinds of Malay adat laws were developed before the 15th century:

• Adat Perpateh was developed as a matrilineal kinship structure from early time by the Minangkabau people in Sumatra
  Sumatra
  Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
  
   and Negri Sembilan.
• The office of the sea admiral or under Adat Temenggong originated bilaterally based on territorial social unit
  Social unit
  Social unit is a term used in sociology, anthropology, ethnology, and also in animal behaviour studies, zoology and biology to describe a social entity which is part of and participates in a larger social group or society....
  
  s. Both adat forms were significantly transformed by Islamic and later Europe
  Europe
  Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
  
  an legal systems during the later colonial times.
• During the inter-maritime contact prior to the 15th century, Chinese vessels (wooden junk
  Junk (ship)
  A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...
  
  s) came and had established the basic draft form
  Prototype
  A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
  
   for the original development in the adat Temenggong maritime laws. The Malacca sultanate had the office of the sea admiral or the Office of the Temenggung
  Temenggung
  Temenggung is an ancient Malay title of nobility, usually given to the chief of public security. The Temenggung is usually responsible for the safety of the monarch as well as the state police and army...
  
  .