An Hegemon of Indochina/SE Asia?

Did the Chams had allies BTW? Where their Islam came from - the malays?

I think the Cham got Islam from the Malays, yes (their language is surely more realted with Malay than with any Indochinese neighboring language), but I am not sure. However, they were very weak when they converted, in their Golden Age they used to be sort of Hindus, as shown by their best art.
They had no important long standing ally I'm aware of, though they have been useful to contain the Viet and so had ties with China and other local powers when needed.
However, odds are particularly against them in the race for region-wide dominance. They are stuck in the middle right in between two centres of power able to support more population and easier state control than their own lands, with a mountain range just at their backs, so they tended to have stronger neighbors on all sides for most of the time. Exceptional ruler could reverse this at times, but geography and overall balance of power made them the weakest contender as a land power. AFAIK, their strength was on sea, but even there, they would not have been able to outcompete other players long term.
 
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