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The Orang Asli During the Prehistoric and Historic Period
Looking at the Orang Asli over a much longer period, say from 500 AD, the seminal
study by Dunn (1975) has been widely influential on later research. It has provided
crucial insight into the Orang Asli and their economic relationship with the Malays
right up to the nineteenth century. This author used archaeology, anthropology,
history and ecology to study human adaptation in tropical rainforest ecosystems in
southern Peninsular Malaysia during protohistoric and prehistoric periods. He
highlighted the importance of the Orang Asli in the exploitation of forest products
over this period. He discerned four phases in their developing role in collecting and
trading natural resources – periods between the fifth and fourteenth centuries, the
fifteenth century, sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, and the nineteenth century.
During the first phase, the Orang Asli were almost exclusively forest collectors,
who sold their products to Indianised coastal Malays acting as conduits to
international markets. In phase two, the Orang Asli were still major collectors of
forest products, of which demand had risen considerably. The middlemen were
still Malays, including those from Indonesian islands who were based in Melaka,
which was the gateway to the international market. In phase three, Orang Asli
collectors included those living in the interior of Peninsular Malaysia. Malays now
functioned as either secondary or tertiary traders. In phase four, the Orang Asli
were no longer exclusive collectors of forest products as they were joined by
Malays and even the Chinese. Malays remained as secondary traders and the
Chinese were tertiary traders.
Dunn (1975) suggested one further recent phase in the twentieth century, with
the Orang Asli as major collectors and primary traders working with Chinese secondary and tertiary traders. The basis of exchange was no longer bartering, but by
cash and credit. By then, the relationship between the Orang Asli and the outside
world had changed considerably. In fact, this transformation had started to take
place much earlier. During the Melaka Sultanate (1400–1511), some Semang people were sold into slavery by Malays. In the late nineteenth century, British officials
in Pahang had noted the age-old animosity of Orang Asli towards Malays (Annual
Report Pahang 1890). For the twentieth century, Andaya (2008) aptly summarised
the situation:
The pressure of modernity, the nation state and the competitive global economy made the
lifestyle and economic pursuits of the forest and hill people increasingly irrelevant and
undervalued.
First, it was Benjamin (1997), and later Andaya (2008), who pushed this date
further back to 3000 YBP by stressing the traditional role of the Orang Asli and their
enduring economic relationship with the Malays. As highlighted by Benjamin, the
Orang Asli in Ulu Tembeling, Pahang, were the only people capable of extracting
forest products besides working in gold mines that the area was well known for. Ulu
Tembeling was also linked to Muar, Johor, in the west through the “Penarikan”
route, and with Tasek Bera, Pahang, and onwards to Pattani, Thailand, in the north
through the Lebir Valley. In this relationship, the Orang Asli were the suppliers of
forest products while the Malays offered them access to international markets,
A. T. Ahmad et al.
The Orang Asli During the Prehistoric and Historic Period
Looking at the Orang Asli over a much longer period, say from 500 AD, the seminal
study by Dunn (1975) has been widely influential on later research. It has provided
crucial insight into the Orang Asli and their economic relationship with the Malays
right up to the nineteenth century. This author used archaeology, anthropology,
history and ecology to study human adaptation in tropical rainforest ecosystems in
southern Peninsular Malaysia during protohistoric and prehistoric periods. He
highlighted the importance of the Orang Asli in the exploitation of forest products
over this period. He discerned four phases in their developing role in collecting and
trading natural resources – periods between the fifth and fourteenth centuries, the
fifteenth century, sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, and the nineteenth century.
During the first phase, the Orang Asli were almost exclusively forest collectors,
who sold their products to Indianised coastal Malays acting as conduits to
international markets. In phase two, the Orang Asli were still major collectors of
forest products, of which demand had risen considerably. The middlemen were
still Malays, including those from Indonesian islands who were based in Melaka,
which was the gateway to the international market. In phase three, Orang Asli
collectors included those living in the interior of Peninsular Malaysia. Malays now
functioned as either secondary or tertiary traders. In phase four, the Orang Asli
were no longer exclusive collectors of forest products as they were joined by
Malays and even the Chinese. Malays remained as secondary traders and the
Chinese were tertiary traders.
Dunn (1975) suggested one further recent phase in the twentieth century, with
the Orang Asli as major collectors and primary traders working with Chinese secondary and tertiary traders. The basis of exchange was no longer bartering, but by
cash and credit. By then, the relationship between the Orang Asli and the outside
world had changed considerably. In fact, this transformation had started to take
place much earlier. During the Melaka Sultanate (1400–1511), some Semang people were sold into slavery by Malays. In the late nineteenth century, British officials
in Pahang had noted the age-old animosity of Orang Asli towards Malays (Annual
Report Pahang 1890). For the twentieth century, Andaya (2008) aptly summarised
the situation:
The pressure of modernity, the nation state and the competitive global economy made the
lifestyle and economic pursuits of the forest and hill people increasingly irrelevant and
undervalued.
First, it was Benjamin (1997), and later Andaya (2008), who pushed this date
further back to 3000 YBP by stressing the traditional role of the Orang Asli and their
enduring economic relationship with the Malays. As highlighted by Benjamin, the
Orang Asli in Ulu Tembeling, Pahang, were the only people capable of extracting
forest products besides working in gold mines that the area was well known for. Ulu
Tembeling was also linked to Muar, Johor, in the west through the “Penarikan”
route, and with Tasek Bera, Pahang, and onwards to Pattani, Thailand, in the north
through the Lebir Valley. In this relationship, the Orang Asli were the suppliers of
forest products while the Malays offered them access to international markets,
A. T. Ahmad et al.