Definition

Malay is a group of languages closely related to each other to the point of mutual intelligibility but that linguists consider to be separate languages. They are grouped into a group called "Local Malay", part of a larger group called "Malayan" within the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family.The various forms of Malay are spoken in Brunei, Indonesia (where the national language, Indonesian, is a variety of it), Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and southern Thailand.

Malay is the official language of Brunei and Malaysia. In Malaysia, the language is also called Bahasa Malaysia. Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand refer to the language as Bahasa Melayu ("Malay language"). Malay is one of the national languages of Singapore. The national language of Indonesia, which was derived from Bahasa Malayu, is Indonesian, formally referred to as Bahasa Indonesia which literally translates as "Indonesian language". It is also called Bahasa Nasional (National Language) and Bahasa Persatuan/Pemersatu (Unifying Language) in Indonesia. In some regions of Sumatera, Indonesians refer to the Indonesian language as Bahasa Melayu. Indonesian is also used in East Timor, a consequence of more than 20 years of Indonesian administration and is now a "working language" of that country.

-Info courtesy of Wikipedia-