This is the kind of post which needs to start with some maps and then contain even more maps:

This map is useful because it shows that Malagasy (the primary language of Madagascar) is in the same sub-group as Bornean languages. There is a little pocket of this sub-group on Sumatra, but otherwise they seem oddly distant, with Sumatra and Java in between. The distance between the Indonesian archipelago and Madagascar is vast  (4,700 mi or 7,500 km as the crow flies, if we start from Borneo), but this map doesn’t really represent that. See this other map:

A lot of people (who are vaguely nerdy and interested in languages) know that Madagascar was settled by Austronesians from what is now Indonesia. This was certainly an impressive feat, and one which seems pretty challenging to do, even for the skilled seafarers of the ancient Pacific. But a third map, with a bit of a different perspective makes it a little more comprehensible: