THE BOOK OF MORMON IS A SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT of three small groups of Middle Easterners who migrated to a “land of promise.” To date, the site of Book of Mormon events has not been found. Without strong physical evidence indicating the actual existence of the peoples and happenings described in the Book of Mormon record, many have found it difficult to accept the book as genuine scripture or Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. The quest for a suitable site matching Book of Mormon descriptions—of the geography, climate, cultural traits, and so forth—is therefore of great importance to those, like me, who believe scripture should be taken at face value as much as possible.

No revelation regarding the site has been received. As LDS Book of Mormon scholar John Sorenson states: “Church authorities from the time of Joseph Smith to the present have come to no consensus, made no authoritative statement, and reported no definitive solution to the question of Book of Mormon geography."

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Strengthened by sentiments like Elder Widtsoe’s and aware of the difficult problems with the settings currently being proposed as the site of Book of Mormon events, I have for some time now been actively searching for a more suitable location. And my search has led me to a surprising candidate: the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia.

In presenting what I label the “Malay Hypothesis,” I realize I am suggesting that studies aimed at locating Book of Mormon lands and accurately identifying the descendants of Book of Mormon peoples would need to undergo a radical paradigm shift—one that many would consider quite farfetched. I am fully aware that no Church leader, Joseph Smith included, has pointed toward a Southeast Asian setting, but neither have they made statements which rule it out.

I began developing this hypothesis many years before DNA studies began pointing toward Asian origins for Amerindian peoples, and the Malay Hypothesis does not rely upon those findings. Still, I hope the results of that research might embolden some advocates of the various Western Hemisphere sites to seriously consider the Malay Peninsula (hereafter, Mala).

I have developed the Malay Hypothesis in great detail, but in this short essay, I will present only a very brief introduction and overview of some its interesting matches with the Book of Mormon text. I present Mala for consideration, but I do not undertake any detailed discussion of deficiencies in the predominant models. My hope for this presentation is to “prime the pump,” asking for a fair hearing and for interested readers to look at my longer study and, perhaps, read for themselves the Book of Mormon with Mala in mind. Because I believe the Book of Mormon is a genuine record of actual peoples and events, not merely a metaphorical or spiritual record, I believe the quest for discovering the lands and peoples described is a very valuable one.

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TO THE BEST of my knowledge, all Book of Mormon accounts can be reasonably accommodated to the Malay Hypothesis. This hypothesis seems to me to work much better with statements that the people of Babel, the House of Israel, and even the Lehites themselves “should be scattered upon all the face of the earth” (1 Nephi 10:12–13; Ether 1:33). The Malay Hypothesis proposes that there are many cherished lands of promise (or Zions) throughout the world, not just one.

The Malay Hypothesis has not been sanctioned by the Church. As Brigham Young states, “We are to judge opinions of leaders about geography or other matters for ourselves.” As an old chemist meddling in hallowed ground, I have undoubtedly made mistakes. But I’ve done my best. I hope and pray that others will help in determining its validity. If true, the potential spiritual benefits to brothers and sisters now and in the eternities to come are immense.