[richajak]

I think that statement by avighnay is misleading to the readers. Ethnically, South East Asians are definitely not south asian. We can find filipino with mostly western names, malaysian with arabic names, indonesian with old sanskrit names, others with chinese names. however, their ethnicity? hmm

For those who are aware of South East Asian's history, they are influenced by the Indian and Culture culture for the past two millennia, in addition to their own local culture. We can find some traces of Hindu-influence temples AD 800-1500, Chinese trading since Tang Dynasty onwards, even western culture during AD 1500 onwards.