Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first known written record of the Malay language was created on the 1st of May 683. This record is the Kedukan Bukit inscription carved on a stone near Palembang, South Sumatra.
The Dutchman C. J. Batenburg discovered the Kedukan Bukit inscription on the 29th of November 1920. This artifact measures approximately 45 centimeters in length and reveals that Old Malay was already a sophisticated language influenced by Sanskrit.
Old Malay was written using the Pallava and Kawi scripts before the introduction of the Arabic Jawi script. These scripts were used during the era of the Pallava variety of the Grantha alphabet and the kingdom of Pasai.
The Srivijaya maritime empire spread Old Malay throughout the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago from the 7th to the 11th centuries. This expansion was driven by the empire's economic power and its role as a hub for trade.
The Malacca Sultanate era occurred from 1402 to 1511 and transformed Malay into Classical Malay. During this period, the language developed rapidly under the influence of Islamic literature, which brought about a massive infusion of Arabic vocabulary.
Malay is spoken by 60 million people across Maritime Southeast Asia. This total includes 10 million speakers in Malaysia and 260 million speakers in Indonesia as Indonesian.