Orang Asli Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This study was designed to determine the sustainability of Orang Asli Indigenous Knowledge and Practice of Green Technology (IKPGT) in the field of herbal therapeutic medicine at selected Orang Asli settlements in Peninsular Malaysia. A case study with multiple sites was used as the research design. Interview protocols and observations were used to obtain the qualitative data. The interview involved 13 informants from Mah Meri, Semai, Bateq dan Semaq Beri tribes. The interviews were video and audio-taped, transcribed verbatim, analyzed, and imported into Atlas.ti software for data processing. The findings showed that the Orang Asli tribes were using their indigenous knowledge to prepare traditional herbal medicine to cure certain diseases using selected herbs from the forest. This ethno-medicine especially in herbal therapeutics is pertinent in Orang Asli culture. Orang Asli tribes utilized medicinal plants to heal various health conditions in treating both children and adults. The plants were hand-picked and processed with natural "green" methods without damaging the natural habitat and without using synthetic chemicals. This explorational study found that Orang Asli's practices of making traditional medicine from selected plants were environmentally friendly and could be sustainable if the practices were passed down to the younger generation. However, the younger generation of Orang Asli seemed to be less interested to learn and to practice the making of herbal medicine to treat common illnesses among Orang Asli community. Another major weakness of Orang Asli IKPGT in making therapeutic herbal medicine was the lack of documentation of the medicinal procedures and processes. In conclusion, the main result shows that most Orang Asli tribes still maintain and practice "green technology" based on their indigenous knowledge in their daily lives. As an implication, Orang Asli IKPGT, based on the empirical data, could be used to develop as a new "Green ethno-medicine framework" with respect to Orang Asli traditional herbal medicine preparation.

- by
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- Indigenous ecological knowledges and practices, Herbal Medicine, Orang Asli, Ethno Medicine
- by Azlin Mansor
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- Education, Orang Asli, Retention, Drop Out
- by Geoffrey Benjamin
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- Animism, Malaysian Studies, Orang Asli, Etnik Orang Asli Di Malaysia
- by Geoffrey Benjamin
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- Malaysia, Malaysian Studies, Orang Asli, Etnik Orang Asli Di Malaysia

This paper is now more than 30 years out of date. The original abstract (1989) is therefore no longer relevant, unless you are interested in the history of Orang Asli studies. If, on the other hand, you are interested in the present situation of the Orang Asli themselves, this paper will no longer be of much use.
ORIGINAL ABSTRACT: Published materials on Orang Asli religions have achieved a very high standard, and work on Orang Asli socio-economic organisation has been substantial. Significant studies have also been done on the biology, epidemiology and linguistics of a few selected populations. However, these and other topics (such as archaeology, linguistics, basic ethnology, history, technology and ecology) remain under-studied. The gaps are discussed critically, and it is argued that they result, in large part, from the lack of reliable ethnological schemata. Several possible schemata are proposed, based variously on linguistic, biological and archaeological, and socio-historical criteria. It is also proposed that research gaps would be closed more quickly if different workers undertook overlapping research and exchanged field-notes among themselves. The paper includes an extensive bibliography of Orang Asli studies.

- by Geoffrey Benjamin
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- Sociology, Anthropology, Malaysia, Linguistics

The names for the various Orang Asli populations of Peninsular Malaysia did not begin to achieve any recognisable similarity to current usage until the 1920s. Versions of the ethnonym ‘Temiar’, which identifies one of the largest of these populations, were first tentatively reported in the 1880s. At that time the people themselves were barely known to the outside world and were mostly referred to, if at all, by other names. The current spelling and pronunciation of the word ‘Temiar’ were not fully established until the 1950s, replacing a surprising variety of earlier written forms and pronunciations. A close examination of the latter throws light on the pre-modern relations holding between the Temiars and other populations. Etymological analysis, involving both Mon-Khmer and Austronesian sources, provides evidence that the earlier linguistic situation in the Peninsula was more complex than currently recognised. The Temiar language belongs to the Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic) stock, but it has long been in contact with one or more Austronesian languages. Investigation suggests two likely etymological sources for the word ‘Temiar’, both meaning ‘edge’ or ‘side’, and having forms similar to the Malayo-Polynesian (but non-Malay) *tambir or to Mon-Khmer *tbiar.

Like many tribal communities worldwide, customary territories are the source of indigenous knowledge, religion, rituals, and social and political adaptation for Peninsular Malaysia's indigenous minority, the Orang Asli. Despite recent challenges to the vibrancy of shamanic practices due to external and internal changes impacting Orang Asli society, the Orang Asli shaman, to some degree, still represents the personal and collective life and well-being of a community and concomitantly, the community's customary territories. With reference to the Semai and Temiar Orang Asli ethnic subgroups, this interdisciplinary paper examines the potential relevance of Orang Asli forms of shamanism in the light of the relatively recent recognition of pre-existing Orang Asli land customs and usages by the Malaysian courts. These rights are established through, amongst other matters, the community's maintenance of a traditional connection with the land claimed in accordance with customs distinctive to the particular community. It is suggested that the increased awareness of the Orang Asli on the legal significance of preserving and maintaining traditional knowledge relevant to demonstrate a traditional connection with their lands may, with guarded optimism, contribute to a resurgence of land and resource-related shamanistic practices in some Orang Asli communities.

- by Yogeswaran Subramaniam and +1
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- Sociology of Law, Legal Anthropology, Legal Pluralism, Customary Law

Education is one of the essential elements for the people to stay out of poverty especially in the Orang Asli community in Malaysia. However, the children of Orang Asli are lagging behind in terms of academic performance and recording a relatively high dropout rate compared with the overall academic performance throughout the nation. In order to increase the level of literacy and decrease the dropout rate of the Orang Asli children, several methods and policies have been implemented such as providing allowances, transportation and accommodation to the students. This chapter addresses the issues and challenges in the aspect of teaching and learning at Sekolah Kebangsaan Senderut, the only primary school in the Orang Asli village, Pos Senderut, Kuala Lipis, Pahang. Data were collected through observations and in-depth interviews with the parents, students and teachers in the case study area. The main issues and challenges in providing primary education in the school of Orang Asli are the teaching and learning process, the impact of amenities and infrastructure on teaching and learning, and the role of parents in their children’s education. The chapter concludes with several suggestions for improving the provision of primary education for the Orang Asli students.

- by Bemen Wong
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- Education, Orang Asli, Learning Issues of Orang Asli in Malaysia

This study was conducted to determine the environment of Orang Asli village and doing field research in Kampung Peta, which is populated by Jakun tribe. The village is located near tu the edge of the Endau-Rompin. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with key informants such as Tok Batin and focus group of selected villager among the considered knowledgeable about developments in Kampung Peta. In this research, the environment of Kampung Peta can be viewed from five aspects which is housing, facility, economy, and cultural. The study found that all of the aspect has been change to a more modern although there are still a few of the community were practiced their original way of life. It can view through the houses that they construct based on forest resources and akso traditional economic activities. This condition describes that Orang Asli in Kampng Peta have seen trying to entering the modernization with their own reference. In addition they also blend right in the forest that can’t be separated. Some recommendations can be implemented to ensure the sustainable development of their environment.

- by Mohd Nur Syufaat Jamiran
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- Facilities Management, Culture, Housing, Economy
- by Lye Tuck-Po
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- Cultural Landscapes, Malaysia, Indigenous Knowledge, Environmentalism

In a Jakun village of northern Johor, almost everyone dreams of tourism, whether it is imaginable or not to access the jobs it offers. Villagers judge by this measure every other opportunity within their reach.
The following pages are based on a six-week ethnographic survey made in March-April 2019. After a presentation of the overall situation of the Orang Asli in Malaysia, the village is described in its natural environment and social organization. The sources of income of the inhabitants are described, separating subsistence activities and commercial activities from the primary sector (collection of forest products and agriculture), self-employment and wage earning without tourism and then within tourism, to better measure the particularities of this sector and its links with environmental protection. A final chapter is devoted to some of the effects of the development of the market economy, in particular the increased income inequalities between women and men and between households, as well as the decline in the "moral order" in which the Jakun economy has long been situated.
What are the motivations of the villagers, the constraints on them and the activities that they must accept for lack of better ones, their aspirations if they were allowed to dream? What do they live on and would like to live on?

This chapter focuses on how the Batek Tanum have realigned their religious and moral geographies in an increasingly globalized world. Under constant pressure from political, social and economic marginalization, stemming principally from being displaced from ancestral landscapes, they have demonstrated remarkable adaptability by incorporating new ideas, events and imagery into their religious practices and beliefs. This adaptability has allowed for change to occur while social and ontological continuity is maintained. The ability to transform the fabric of their religious landscape within the contemporary context of massive environmental degradation, territorial loss and social pressure constitutes an effective strategy of empowerment, a counter to the threats of marginalisation. Examination of the ways these transformations take on a global dimension allows us to delineate the threads of Batek Tanum resistance to the devastating effects of transnational forces at work within their environment

- by Ivan Tacey
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- Religion, Anthropology, Southeast Asian Studies, Globalization

Sebagai seorang Muslim, ibadah merupakan salah satu elemen penting dalam ajaran agama Islam dan solat adalah perkara asas yang perlu dilaksanakan oleh setiap Muslim.
Kebiasaannya seseorang itu akan mula belajar mengenai solat dengan mengikuti latihan
amali solat yang diterapkan dalam kelas fardhu ain di sekolah mahupun di progam-program luar dari sekolah. Latihan amali solat ini penting kerana menekankan pelbagai aspek solat yang perlu diketahui oleh setiap orang Islam khususnya bagi mereka yang baru berjinak-jinak dengan Islam. Masyarakat Orang Asli yang baru memeluk Islam dilihat sebagi sasaran yang memerlukan satu modul latihan amali solat sebagai platform untuk memahami dengan lebih
jelas berkaitan ibadah solat. Justeru objektif kertas kerja ini adalah untuk mengkaji pendekatan yang sesuai dan tahap kefahaman Orang Asli Muslim terhadap solat untuk
diaplikasikan dalam modul bengkel fardhu ain amali solat. Selain itu, kertas kerja ini juga bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti sejauh mana tahap pengamalan dan kesedaran masyarakat Orang Asli Muslim dalam beristiqamah mengamalkan ilmu yang telah diterapkan khususnya
dalam modul bengkel fardhu ain amali solat serta mengkaji tahap penerimaan Orang Asli Muslim terhadap pendekatan yang digunakan menerusi modul bengkel fardhu ain amali solat. Metodologi kajian yang digunakan adalah kaedah tinjauan dengan menggunakan satu set
soal selidik. Hasil dapatan merumuskan keseluruhan modul pendekatan bengkel tersebut memberi kesan positif kepada masyarakat Orang Asli khususnya dalam meningkatkan
keinginan mereka untuk mempelajari ilmu pengetahuan mengenai Agama Islam khususnya solat.

- by Nazirah Nur Mukmin
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- Orang Asli, Dakwah, Methodology of Dakwah, Pendekatan Dakwah

This paper investigates the spatial cognition and navigation techniques of the Batek of Malaysia. It has been recognized that people who travel long distances without modern navigation techniques use natural objects for orientation. Such populations travel through open spaces using winds, mountains, valleys, and astronomical phenomena as reference points. On the other hand, wayfaring in the tropical rainforest cannot refer to such features because the dense vegetation obstructs them, though little has been discussed on spatial cognition and navigation in such environments.
The Batek are hunters and gatherers of the Malaysian rainforest. By analyzing their wayfaring and social customs, it was found that 2 elements play a crucial role in their navigation and spatial cognition. The first is their detailed knowledge of river systems that serve as a frame of reference in the rainforest. Their naming custom and analogical
understanding of river systems help the Batek to memorize places by environmental socialization. The second is their classification of the environment into 3 main divisions: the Tom (“river”); the Gunung (“mountain”); and the Hep (“forest”), and vertical movement
plays an important role for orientation in the former two, whereas horizontal movement plays an important role in the latter. Among those divisions, the border of the Tom and the Hep corresponded to the norm of not mixing the cooking fire of water-dwelling creatures and that of land-dwelling creatures. The Batek navigation in the rainforest is realized with iterated camps made along rivers and topography recognition in both vertical and horizontal dimensions.

- by Khairul Hisyam Kamarudin
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- Religion, Indigenous Studies, Malaysia, Orang Asli

Orang Asli, the heterogeneous Indigenous minority peoples of Peninsular Malaysia, continue to face formidable challenges in realising their rights as distinct Indigenous peoples despite being ascribed a measure of constitutional and statutory protection and recognition. With reference to the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and international definitions of ‘Indigenous peoples’, this paper examines the influence of the externally constructed ethnic term ‘Orang Asli’ and its concomitant legal implications on the Orang Asli quest for indigeneity and the recognition of their rights as distinct Indigenous Peoples.

- by Yogeswaran Subramaniam
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- Orang Asli, Malaysian Law, Etnik Orang Asli Di Malaysia

Artikel ini akan membincangkan tentang faktor yang mempengaruhi akan kesedaran pentingnya isu pendidikan dalam kalangan masyarakat orang asli di Malaysia. Kesedaran akan pentingnya pendidikan dalam kalangan masayarakat Malaysia perlu diketengahkan terutamanya bagi golongan masyarakat Orang Asli. Hal ini kerana, masih terdapat banyak kes keciciran pelajar yang dilaporkan, terutamanya dalam kalangan masyarakat Orang Asli di Malaysia

- by Syahirah Nawi
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- Orang Asli, Pendidikan, Etnik Orang Asli Di Malaysia, faktor pendidikan
- by Geoffrey Benjamin
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- Ethnohistory, Indonesian History, Ethnology, Malaysian Studies
- by Lye Tuck-Po
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- Bibliography, Orang Asli

Pelajar Orang Asli merupakan golongan minoriti yang didapati masih ketinggalan dalam sektor pendidikan di Malaysia. Seiring dengan pembangunan menuju negara maju, kerajaan telah merangka dan melaksanakan pelbagai dasar serta strategi bagi meningkatkan pendidikan dalam kalangan Orang Asli. Walaupun pelbagai dasar dan strategi telah dilaksanakan, namun kerajaan masih gagal meningkatkan tahap penyertaan dan mengurangkan tahap keciciran dalam kalangan pelajar orang asli. Oleh itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti trend pendidikan di kalangan orang asli dan juga melihat trend keciciran dikalangan pelajar orang asli. Kajian melibatkan penggunaan data sekunder berkaitan penyertaan dan keciciran pelajar orang asli dalam bidang pendidikan yang diperolehi melalui laman sesawang Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli. Hasil kajian mendapati orang asli semakin mengutamakan pendidikan dan berlaku peningkatan dalam enrolmen ke sekolah rendah, sekolah menengah dan IPT. Keciciran di kalangan pelajar menunjukkan trend semakin menurun. Namun begitu kadar perubahan masih didalam kadar perlahan.

- by Nor Fariha Aniza Md Isa
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- Orang Asli

Penubuhan Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (JHEOA) yang kini dikenali sebagai Jabatan Kemanjuan Orang Asli (JAKOA) pada tahun 1954 telah membuktikan kerajaan Malaysia memberi perhatian terhadap pembangunan masyarakat Orang Asli terutamanya dari aspek sosioekonomi. Kerajaan melalui kementerian berkenaan juga turut mengambil inisiatif dalam meningkatkan kualiti hidup dari aspek kesihatan, pendidikan dan komunikasi. Pewartaan kawasan hutan sebagai Taman Negara juga telah memberi impak kepada peningkatan sosioekonomi Orang Asli. Kertas kerja ini merupakan kupasan literatur yang berfokus kepada kelestarian transformasi pembangunan tersebut. Objektif utama kertas kerja ini adalah untuk menerangkan kerangka teoritikal tentang kelestarian perubahan ke arah kemajuan masyarakat Orang Asli di Malaysia. Isu-isu sosioekonomi seperti kemiskinan, keciciran, migrasi dan fasiliti akibat masalah yang berlaku juga akan dikupas. Kertas kerja ini juga mengemukakan beberapa cadangan langkah penyelesaian bagi menangai masalah yang berlaku. Hasilnya dijangka dapat memastikan kelestarian pembangunan sosioekonomi Orang Asli khususnya etnik Jakun di perkampungan Peta.

Kajian ini meninjau aspek sosioekonomi Orang Asli dengan melakukan kajian lapangan terhadap penduduk Kampung Peta, yang terdiri daripada Orang Asli Jakun. Kampung tersebut terletak di pinggir Taman Negara Endau-Rompin. Data dikumpulkan melalui temubual mendalam dengan informan utama seperti Tok Batin serta kumpulan berfokus iaitu Orang Asli terpilih dalam kalangan yang dianggap berpengetahuan tentang perkembangan di dalam dan persekitaran berhampiran Taman Negara tersebut. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa masyarakat Kampung Peta masih mengamalkan ekonomi sara diri. Namun begitu secara keseluruhannya ekonomi mereka telah mula terserap ke dalam sektor kerajaan dan swasta. Hal ini berpunca daripada pembangunan Taman Negara Endau-Rompin yang telah banyak membuka peluang ekonomi kepada mereka. Tanaman getah dan sumber hutan juga turut menjadi penyumbang kepada pendapatan mereka. Taraf pendidikan dalam kalangan mereka juga telah meningkat walaupun masih terdapat sebilangan kecil yang masih belum menguasai kemahiran 3M (membaca, menulis, mengira). Justeru pembangunan sosioekonomi mereka perlu dilaksanakan dengan lestari agar tidak menjejaskan kekayaan alam semula jadi selain dapat memenuhi keperluan dan kehendak generasi akan datang.

- by Mohd Nur Syufaat Jamiran
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- Orang Asli, Sosiologi, Sosioeconomic
- by Hesham Mahyoub Al-Mekhlafi
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- Immunology, Malaysia, Orang Asli, Underweight

This paper has been further corrected and updated to 25 October 2024. As a completely new account of Temiar phonology, morphology and syntax, it replaces my 1976 paper "An outline of Temiar grammar", and should be consulted instead of it. I have accordingly removed the 1976 account from this website. If you'd still like to have a copy, please send me a message, and I'll send it to you privately.

- by Geoffrey Benjamin
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- History, Ethnohistory, Southeast Asian Studies, Malaysia
- by Lye Tuck-Po
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- Orang Asli

Makalah ini merupakan sebahagian daripada hasil penelitian penyelidik dalam usaha merekonstruksi pandangan dunia (worldview) Orang Asli Semelai terhadap alam sekeliling mereka dengan mengambil kira aspek alam semesta. Alam semesta merangkumi alam fizikal dan alam ghaib yang saling berkait dengan manusia. Pemahaman bahawa alam semesta mengandungi kedua-dua alam fizikal dan alam ghaib adalah penting untuk membolehkan manusia berinteraksi dengan kedua-duanya. Bagi makalah ini, pengetahuan Orang Asli Semelai tentang bintang yang fizikal di alam semesta sahaja akan dibincangkan. Kajian lapangan telah dilaksanakan sejak Ogos 2017 di dua buah perkampungan Semelai di daerah Bera, Pahang. Setakat ini, kami telah menemui tujuh nama bintang, lima daripadanya dapat dikaitkan dengan sistem ekologi tempatan masyarakat. Kami berpendapat bahawa penelitian untuk memahami kosmologi sesuatu kebudayaan kurang lengkap jika aspek alam semesta tidak disertakan.

- by Nurul Fatini Jaafar and +1
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- Ethnoastronomy, Cultural Astronomy, Orang Asli, Indigenous Astronomy

The Malay World is a region of much greater indigenous socio-cultural complexity than the label would suggest. In addition to speakers of Austronesian-derived Malayic languages in the Peninsula, Sumatra and coastal Borneo, there are some fifteen ethnolinguistic groups who speak Mon-Khmer languages. Historically, these indigenous populations have followed a variety of appropriative modes, including nomadic foraging (forest, strand and maritime), farming (swidden, swamp and irrigated), lake and maritime fishing, the collecting of forest and maritime products for trade, and long-distance inter-regional trading. Their socio-political circumstances have ranged from tribal, through peasants and hereditary state-linked elites linked to long-distance trade, to citizens of modern nation-states. The influence of the various centres of civilization that were present in the region in pre-modern times was also of key importance: coastal trading states, colonial-response states, inland sacred-city (or ‘middle kingdom’) states and cultural suppletion (or mainland migration) states. While some of these were nested into mandala-like or ‘galactic’ polities, the others had quite different consequences. Egalitarianism and ranking in the region both derive in large measure from the emergence of certain structural features – concerning relative-age, unifiliative bias, preferential marriage patterns, and so on – all serving to maintain mutually distinctive societal regimes within the broader regional framework. Earlier theories explained this array as resulting from distinct migratory ‘waves’, but current evidence (from archaeology, linguistics, kinship and social organization, religion, genetics, and other disciplines) suggests that it emerged mostly indigenously through a series of deliberate mutual adjustments, both assimilatory and dissimilatory, between populations that were each seeking mutual advantages vis-à-vis each other. The paper reviews previous work on the topic, and discusses the mechanisms by which the distinctive Melayu form of social organization emerged out of a more generally Malayic one.

- by Khairul Hisyam Kamarudin
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- Indigenous Studies, Sustainable Development, Malaysia, Orang Asli

Abstrak Globalisasi telah membawa perubahan besar kepada kehidupan masyarakat dunia. Kesannya muncul pelbagai persoalan dalam masyarakat yang memerlukan perdebatan dan penyelesaian. Dalam konteks pembangunan dunia, Malaysia turut merasai bahang kepesatan perubahan ini dan golongan muda paling terkesan dengan globalisasi dan dunia siber masa kini. Kewujudan pemikiran baru dunia kini menjadi suatu cabaran bagi mereka. Namun peluang pendidikan yang meluas dan pendedahan kepada pengalaman baru serta keazaman untuk berubah pastinya boleh menjadi pendorong kepada Generasi Z (selepas ini disebut Gen Z) untuk belajar, memupuk bakat dan meningkatkan keupayaan serta daya tahan. Pendedahan dan penguasaan terhadap internet dan media baharu juga dapat memberi manfaat kepada pembangunan bakat seterusnya penciptaan inovasi dalam kalangan mereka untuk menyumbang kepada pembangunan negara. Justeru itu, kajian ini mempunyai tiga objektif: (a) mengenal pasti profil Gen Z dalam kalangan komuniti Orang Asli, (b) mengenal pasti bakat dan nilai yang dimiliki Gen Z dan (c) meneliti reaksi Gen Z terhadap cabaran dan harapan mereka menghadapi kehidupan di abad 21. Kajian ini menggunakan teori modal sosial Coleman. Proses pengumpulan data menggunakan kaedah kualitatif dengan mengadakan temu bual secara mendalam dan pemerhatian serta kajian kepustakaan. Seramai 3 orang informan dalam kalangan Gen Z Orang Asli Kampung Bersah, Pos Kuala Mu dipilih menggunakan kaedah persampelan bertujuan. Kajian ini dapat menemukan kekuatan yang dimiliki oleh Gen Z berisiko dari segi nilai dan bakat agar mereka dapat bersama-sama menyumbang kepada pembangunan dan kemajuan negara. Data dianalisis menggunakan perisian komputer QSR Nvivo dengan mengkategorikan data mengikut tema-tema tertentu. Abstract Globalization has brought great changes to the lives of the world community. The effect appears many question in society that require debate and resolution. In the context of the development of the world, Malaysia also felt the heat of the rapidity of this change and young people most affected by globalization and the cyber world today. The existence of new thinking the world has become a challenge for them. But widespread educational opportunities and exposure to new experience and the determination give changes to Generation Z (Gen Z) for learning, nurturing talent and to increase the capacity and resilience. Exposure and control of the internet and new media can also benefit the further development of talent among them the creation of innovation in order to contribute the

- by Aminah Albani
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- Orang Asli

mengkonsumsi obat herbal Vimax asli http://maxmanindonesia.com , anda disarankan untuk tidak mengkonsumsi obat tersebut bersamaan dengan berbagai bahan makanan atau minuman yang justru dapat merusak khasiat yang diberikan. Berikut ini diulas beberapa bahan makanan dan minuman yang sepantasnya anda hindari pada saat mengkonsumsi obat herbal vimax.

- by bosse seo
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- Herbal Medicine, Canada, Orang Asli, Vimax

The cline of Malayness as exhibited in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula extends through tribal-Malay, rakyat-Malay, aristocrat-Malay and modern urban-Malay. As a consequence of the manner in which Malay states came into being, this cline exhibits an increasing elaboration of the cultural expression of transition and transitivity. This is manifested in the different manners of musical performance favoured in the various Malay populations. In turn, these differences are paralleled closely in such other areas of Malay cultural expression as: social personality, cooking & eating, dance, religion, grammar & lexicon. Fifteen illustrative audio examples are available on the Soundcloud.com website through links given in the footnotes, where links to other cited online audio examples are also provided.

The prevailing view about the Orang Asli's occupation of land and access to forest resources are that they are 'privileges' extended by the states or at the governments' discretion. It is widely believed that the Orang Asli live on the State land as tenant-at-will. This paper proposes to examine the position of the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 (Act 153) (the APA) and trace its historical background. It takes both historical and doctrinal approaches in the legal research methodology. Situated within this historical background, the principle that developed from it and the position of the laws, the paper argues that under the principle of respect to the rights of the existing inhabitants, the law recognizes the rights of the Orang Asli to their land and resources that arose from their custom and practice. The APA establishes a framework to recognize and protect these rights. There is no legal basis for the perception that the Orang Asli live on the State land on the benevolence of the State.

- by Izawati Wook
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- Indigenous Peoples, Orang Asli

In the recent years the use of computer technology and multimedia in education increased because it offers many benefits. The situation is different for the Orang Asli school because they still rely on the conventional way of teaching and learning. This study aim to visualized the folklore based on the ‘Special Programme for Orang Asli Pupils: Let’s Share and Read Our Folklore’ in animated form so it can be use as a teaching aid in the classroom to further help the student in their learning process thus motivating them to read. This finding able to help those who want to develop animation that focus to enhance and motivate literacy.

- by Noorhaslina Senin
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- Folklore, Animation, Character Design, Orang Asli

In Malaysia, constitutional and attendant statutory protection for its Indigenous minority, Orang Asli (‘OA’), which place extensive power over OA and their lands in the state have not translated to the effective recognition of OA rights or substantial equality for OA. This situation persists notwithstanding positive jurisprudential developments in the Malaysian courts and Malaysia’s support for the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Instead, the Federal and State governments continue to use their extensive legal powers to determine state priorities for land and resource utilization. The exercise of these powers appears to leave OA with land ownership, use and development priorities foisted upon them by the state. These priorities tend to deprioritize OA land interests. A combination of prejudices against the numerically inferior OA, hierarchical, differentiated and contested definitions of indigeneity in Malaysia and the subsequent push for economic progress which is linked to ethnic Malay-centric affirmative action have also contributed to the lack of legislative and executive will to effectively recognise OA customary land rights. Consequently, any initiative towards the legal recognition OA customary land rights is likely to be a product of state-driven compromise, the extent of which may again serve to shortchange OA.

The primary focus of this article is on the so-called Negritos of Peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand, but attention is also paid to other parts of Southeast Asia. I present a survey of current views on the “negrito” phenotype—is it single or many? If the phenotype is many (as now seems likely), it must have resulted from parallel evolution in the several different regions where it has been claimed to exist. This would suggest (contrary to certain views that have been expressed on the basis of very partial genetic data) that the phenotype originated recently and by biologically well-authenticated processes from within the neighbouring populations. Whole-genome and physical-anthropological research currently support this view. Regardless of whether the negrito phenotype is ancient or recent—and to the extent that it retains any valid biological reality (which is worth questioning)—explanations are still needed for its continued distinctiveness. In the Malay Peninsula, a distinctive “Semang” societal pattern followed by most, but not all, so-called Negritos may have been responsible for this by shaping familial, breeding and demographic patterns to suit the two main modes of environmental appropriation that they have followed, probably for some millennia: nomadic foraging in the forest, and facultative dependence on exchange or labour relations with neighbouring populations. The known distribution of “negritos” in the Malay Peninsula is limited to areas within relatively easy reach of archaeologically authenticated premodern transpeninsular trading and portage routes, as well as of other non-negrito, Aslian-speaking populations engaged in swidden farming. This suggests that their continued distinctiveness has resulted from a wish to maintain a complementary advantage vis-à-vis other, less specialised populations. Nevertheless, a significant degree of discordance exists between the associated linguistic, societal-tradition and biological patterns, which suggests that other factors have also been at play.

An historically orientated overview of Temiar social organisation and its study, concentrating on the period before their recent shift from tribal to more peasant-like or proletarian circumstances. An ethnographic sketch of the Temiar people (a Mon-Khmer-speaking population of upland northern Peninsular Malaysia) is followed by a processual, ecological and political analysis of the cognatic-descent-group based organisation of their local residential groups. The organisation of their geographically wide-ranging, kinship-based, ego-centred relations is also discussed, along with a brief account of the political ranking that emerged historically out of their relations with wider Malayan society. Explanations are then proffered for the peculiarities of the Temiar societal pattern in comparison with the Semang and Malayic patterns.

- by Geoffrey Benjamin
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- Malaysia, Malaysian Studies, Kinship, Social organization

An account of the Temiars, a Mon-Khmer-speaking population of northern Peninsular Malaysia. The subheadings are: Orientation (identification, location, demography, linguistic affiliation); History and cultural relations; Settlements; Economy (subsistence and commercial activities; industrial arts, trade, division of labour, land tenure); Kinship (kin groups and descent, kinship terminology); Marriage and family (marriage, domestic unit, inheritance, socialisation); Sociopolitical organisation (social organisation, political organisation, conflict and social control); Religion and expressive culture (religious beliefs and practitioners, ceremonies, arts, medicine, death and afterlife). An introductory note by the editor reads, "This entry is longer than most others in the volume, to provide information about the current state of indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia, especially in regard to their relationships with other dominant groups and national governments."

- by Geoffrey Benjamin
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- Social Change, Malaysia, Malaysian Studies, Orang Asli

ABSTRAK : Masyarakat Orang Asli merupakan satu entiti masyarakat Malaysia yang tersebar di seluruh negara di Semenanjung Malaysia. Masyarakat ini masih mengekal dan mementingkan sikap kerjasama antara satu sama lain. Namun mereka masih memerlukan sokongan sosial bagi meneruskan kehidupan. Sokongan sosial sering difahami sebagai bermaksud pengalaman yang berkaitan penghargaan, perhatian dan kasih sayang. Kajian ini telah dijalankan di Kampung Sungai Lui, Jempol, Negeri Sembilan. Seramai 53 orang (24 lelaki dan 29 perempuan) telah terlibat sebagai responden kajian. Data diperoleh dianalisis dengan menggunakan Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara sokongan sosial dan pengertian hidup Orang Asli sekitar Sungai Lui

- by Faudziah Yusof
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- Orang Asli

Abstract: The endogenous religious and secular musics of the Malay World’s various social formations display a range of performance manners and organisation that reflect their distinctive socio-cultural and religious orientations. This... more

- by Geoffrey Benjamin
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- Ethnomusicology, Indonesian Studies, Malaysian Studies, Orang Asli

This paper has now been superseded, especially by the following publication: Dunn, Michael, Niclas Burenhult, Nicole Kruspe, Neele Becker & Sylvia Tufvesson. 2011. "Aslian linguistic prehistory: A case study in computational phylogenetics." Diachronica 28: 291–323. If you still choose to access my paper, pay no attention to the glottochronologically proposed dates in it, which are too early by several millennia. On the other hand, the appendix listing the actual lexical data used in the study should still be useful, especially as most lexicostatistical studies omit that information.