Stop the oppression: The Orang Asli are people too!
By YONG YEN NIE
Someone once said that it doesn’t matter who arrived in this land first; what matters is who controls the land thereafter. Today, the Native Indians hold little claim to the land called “America.� The Aborigines are known to be relatively under-represented in the Australian parliament compared to the other races in the country. And here in Malaysia, the Orang Asli community too continues to fade into invisibility, appearing only once in a while in travel brochures and advertisement campaigns.
The Orang Asli community lives in the jungles of Malaysia and make up less than 0.5 percent of the country’s population. Not only are they the minority of the country, they are also the most marginalised, sidelined - call it by any other term - abandoned by the government in every effort it makes to improve the nation’s standard of living.
Cut off by inaccessible roads, otherwise only made accessible by loggers, this community has also virtually no access to electricity, education or medical attention in any manner. A clean water source is their only prized amenity.
With so little, the Orang Asli community has to fend for themselves against rich planters and loggers who often prey on their land. Plantation owners sometimes visit them, bringing contracts and proposals on “partnerships� to persuade them to give away their land. Few can read and write at all, let alone understand the terms of these contracts and proposals.
Many tribes have fallen prey to fraudulent schemes and are turned out from their homes and crops. Those who resist are eventually forced out of their homes when these plantation owners and loggers bring bulldozers and tractors into the very land that they are living in.
The scenery of durian, cocoa and rubber trees lining up by thousands is a typical one if one is to drive in the outskirts of Bentong, Pahang. These lands were perhaps once the homes of the Orang Asli, who are now being forced to live in the deeper parts of the jungles.
Here they are exposed to various diseases, as their only amenity in the form of a clean water source would have been taken away from them. Here they must work for the plantation owners and loggers for miserable wages and even fight for employment opportunities with the foreign labourers. Here they remain handicapped, for being deprived of knowledge equates to them being dumb, mute and crippled.
The government is oblivious to the plight of the Orang Asli and in some cases even tries to relocate these people themselves so that these lands can be sold to private developers. The case of Sagong Tasi v. Kerajaan Negeri Selangor has demonstrated the failure of the state government in protecting the Orang Asli when they needed it most.
Illiteracy not only makes them easy targets of oppression by the loggers and planters, but also suppresses them greatly from any much-needed social development. Without the ability to read and write, the Orang Asli community has no negotiating powers over their rights and privileges.
The Department of Orang Asli Affairs and the world at large blame the community for their laziness and indifference towards attending schools provided. (See Creating Knowledge For Change: A Case Study of Soniu Pai Nanek Snegik’s Educational Work With Orang Asli Communities in Malays by Tijah Chupil / Jerald Joseph, Pusat Komas.) They claim that the Orang Asli community is only interested in picking wild fruits and hunting animals in the jungle.
However, we ought to look at the big picture as to why young Orang Asli students drop out of school. Poor school facilities and unqualified teachers affect the students’ interest in learning as well. Would anyone endure walking for hours to the nearest school available and spending hard-earned money on candles to study at night, only to face humiliation by other students for wearing tattered school uniforms and teachers who are not interested in teaching them?
Despite it all, haven’t we read newspaper reports that highlight the determination shown by some young Orang Asli students in the pursuit of education? (See the article in The Star on 25 Jan. 2007)
Yes, it doesn’t matter who arrived in the land first. But it does matter that the ones governing the land protect those who have no means to protect themselves. The Orang Asli community is not a community destined for negligence, to think of them in such a manner would render any one of us deserving a similar fate.
Let us not forget that they too, are part of the rakyat.
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YONG YEN NIE is a contributing writer for theCICAK.
Yen Nie visited a few Orang Asli villages with friends from church in her earlier student days. Although her visits were short, they spurred her to take an Issues that Revolve Around the Indigenous People of Malaysia course in Universiti Malaya. She writes in the hope that these people will be heard loudly and clearly. After four years of reading Accountancy, she decided that it was a decision against her will. She will soon be listed as an unemployed graduate. Visit her site.
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thanks for bringing light to this issue.
on a different note, i think it should be “Orang Asli communities” (i.e. it should be plural) as you’re using a general term to represent many groups with diverse cultural backgrounds.
wikipedia has an article on Orang Asli - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_Asli
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This issue is not new and has been lingering in our country, where most of it in the East Malaysia inner regions of S’wak and Sabah.
Have we done enough to tell everyone about their plight?
U only see them in newspaper with politicians. It’s just business. What business? Their business of getting votes! The mainstream media runs the “orang asli” plight if it is WIN-WIN for them, many happy returns.
I would say that, with the new mainstream media, the internet-media. We can tell these plights to the world. In the end, I will still blame the our policymakers.
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yup the orang asli are a largely neglected lot. planters and loggers take advantage of the orang asli people all the time. so do politicians. once every few years politicians visit their villages, making promisese for water supply, electricity, etc, in return for their votes. many times, they don’t deliver their promises.
the other groups who have an active interest in the orang asli are religious groups - islamic and christian. while i am happy that they contribute to the welfare of the orang asli, i’m also concerned about how once united villages become polarised because of religion.
the islamisation of the orang asli disturbs me quite a bit though. I’ve heard stories about cash incentives for those who are willing to convert to islam, and it is part of a larger move by the government to try to “integrate� the orang asli into mainstream society, and by that I mean slowly replacing their culture and identity with that of the malay community. social engineering at its best..
there is also a need for us to not lump all orang asli together. they are a quite diverse bunch as well. the semai villages along the tapah-cameron road are engaged in quite a bit of commercial activity, selling their own crops. quite a number of their children go to school (but they really struggle with english and math). quite a number also have access to facilities like astro in their homes. contrast this with let’s say the isolated jahais deep in taman negara who spend their time collecting hunting and collecting fruits and other plants.
and thomas, technically speaking orang asli are the indigenous people of semenanjung malaysia only. they are quite different from the indigenous people of sabah and sarawak not only in descent, but in culture and language too. they also see themselves as different from one another..
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Coming of native descent (my father’s a Lun Bawang from the Ba’Kelalan in Sarawak, my mum’s a chinese from PJ), I would have to say that the country places too much sympathy on us. They talk the talk but they just don’t seem to be able to walk the walk.
Of course we are part of the rakyat of Malaysia, but if Sarawak and Sabah did not join Malaya, we would have ended being more advanced as the S&S are far richer than the Malaya put together. If you’ve known by now, all our resources are being lapped up by the strong and fierce side of the West side.
And ever since I have started college in KL (my hometown is Miri), my sarawakian friends and I are AGHAST at how backward and ignorant the city people are of people coming from Sarawak and Sabah.
Sorry to say, but do not think that Orang Asli, or people coming from the East are backward. It is very surprising that on my first day of college after introducing myself, city people even dared to ask me, “Oh, so do you live on trees?”
And THAT, was one genuine question.
Imagine the fun we had, lying to them?
“Yeah man, we still live on trees. I have to climb to the highest branch to get good reception for my wireless connection, ya know.”
Such a discrimination the West has on the East. And under the same umbrella, to make things worse.
And no matter what, this oppression will NEVER stop. Oppression happens everywhere. To anyone. It is just that people take advantage of the ‘Orang Asli’ and have a ’show-show’ that they actually care about the Orang Asli whereas in fact, all they care about is that the female population should be covered in cloth from head to toe. Sometimes you wonder what the country’s priorities are.
And if given the oppurtunity of better education and fascilities, I am very much confident that the Natives of Malaysia will outdo even the best. Because, even now without the best, we ARE, in fact, the best.
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V. nice post. While working in the US shortly after graduating, a friend, who was taking anthropology in uni, mentioned one of her texts, Robert Dentan’s “Semai: A Nonviolent People of Malaya” (1979). A very revealing book and a good read, though perhaps a bit dated now a (1st ed. 1979, w/ revision in 1986). But important nonetheless, especially considering the lack of other books on the OA.
Strangely enough, a popular text in anthropology courses in the States, but from what I’ve gathered, it doesn’t seem to have had much exposure back home, even amongst the groups who work with the Semai/Senoi (perhaps we from the city need to better understand where the OA are coming from rather than pushing our standards and way of doing things upon them - speaking for myself as well, having met the Senoi on numerous church trips when a teen).
A website for those interested:
http://www.keene.edu/library/OrangAsli/
p.’s. Dentan still teaches at SUNY-Buffalo and is quite responsive to emails and very helpful - if anyone’s interested in postgrad studies on the topic.
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I agree that the Orang Asli community consists of many tribes and should be distinguished. Thanks for the wikipedia link, Milkmaid. My article speaks on the OA generally, and the issues revolve around them are collective in nature. It
will be great to make more in-depth studies about the various tribes in the OA community.
That aside, I also acknowledge the fact that there are many “wolves clothed in sheepskin”, prancing around the OA issue; but not really interested in taking their plight seriously.
But, I still believe that the OA community(ies) do not get enough recognition; not only by our government, but also by our own people. Since the OA Dept (JHEOA) seems to lack sincerity and serious action in protecting the OA community(ies), frankly; any NGOs, Christian groups/Islam groups going in there to provide help to these people is better an idea than to sit here and rant about it.
Markus, you may disagree with me on this, but; I believe that groups like these should be given access to OA villages if they were driven by genuine compassion and love to help. If the OA decides to embrace a particular faith because they have been touched by these groups, so shall it be. But the key idea is this- the OA community must never be forced or coerced into a religion simply because by doing so, they will get more rice/money.
Nevertheless, I have seen at least one church group that goes to OA villages fortnightly, not only to provide them with clothing and food; but also to equip them with skills- rearing fish, plant vegetables, and count (so that their pay may not be cheated by Chinese planters!), without even once, attempting to force religion down their throats. With forerunners like these, I am optimistic that more will come forward to bring the issue to the spotlight.
Of course, I do not regard the OA community(ies) as handicapped or one that requires pity. But, we must acknowledge that collectively, the OA are some of the poorest in this country. And we will be living in denial to think that people can miraculously jump out of poverty within a blink of an eye, without been given some sort of headstart support.
Hence, along these lines, I’d say “Amen” to Saran, for the OA, given the opportunities; will surely do as well as other major races of this country.
After all’s that been said about this, I think the more pressing question is, “how do we as laymen, begin to help the OA community? I believe that small steps and corporate beginnings are nevertheless, powerful changes.
I wrote more about it here- http://yyennie.wordpress.com/2007/04/04/triggering-the-ripple-effects-for-the-orang-asli-community/
I hope you will take time to read and think about it.
Thanks A Tan, that is a valuable source. Again, it cements the notion that all of us have a role to play, even if it is as seemingly small as readling about the OA community and creating a buzz about it to our friends.
Call me an idealistic fool, but perhaps; we should set the highest ideals possible. And when the cruel realism decides to wage war against our ideals, we shall not give them in easily.
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aiyah the orang asli ah dunno how to think for long term lah..people offer nice to settle with them for our logging rights they wan deny deny deny so what can we do? Whack them lah…but don’t think we are bad people lah the police, army and pai mo also do the same thing…our very own leaDERS and law and order.
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i hope that one day orang asli can rule their own land (malaysia).. but please give them the opportunity to get into political site.. HIDUP Orang Asli!!!
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