7
benefit them through the national development programme that uprooted them in
the first place. Basic infrastructure like housing, health services and schooling were
provided at the reservations.
In 1972, the Orang Asli represented only 2–3% of the total population in Malaysia
(about 11.5 million). Little science-based information was available on the population’s diversity, languages, and lifestyle attributes. They were a small population
group with no money, status or influence. They practiced shifting cultivation and
many family units were diffusly scattered throughout the Malaysian Forests. The
government could not sacrifice the economic needs of the nation for a handful of
people, so it provided a reservation system for displaced Orang Asli and hoped for
the best.
Land conversion and related development then proceeded at a rapid pace, often
encroaching on native land. With the rapid population growth of other races (indigeneous Malay, Chinese, Indian), the Orang Asli could not thrive and would end up
becoming fewer as a percentage of the whole. The hope was that and with any success of the Orang Asli transitioning into adjacent cash economies, they would all but
disappear as an underserved, undeveloped people.
In Pahang Tenggara, however small and diffusely scattered the Orang Asli populations were, they primarily occupied the gently rolling lowland forests. Shifting
cultivation in small units was evident in certain areas, while individual home structures near rivers could be observed from the air. For the most part, the Orang Asli
were land security dependent — being hunter-gatherers, and fishermen, with incidental agricultural subsistence in their lifestyle. Depending on cash economies and
being wage security dependent were exceptions to the rule. The Orang Asli “earned”
their living from the forests and river systems they live in. Protecting their designated land and associated river systems and integrating the Orang Asli into cash and
wage security economies engulfing them was the challenge.
One interesting thing is that while visiting an Orang Asli reservation, some of my
Malay colleagues did not want to have their pictures taken next to an Orang Asli. I
am not sure why this was so. Perhaps they did not want to be mistakenly identified
as “one of them”. The Orang Asli bathed and fished in rivers and their tributaries.
Often, I would come across the Orang Asli washing their clothes and bathing in rivers near forest clearings or plantations (Figs. 2 and 3).
While it may not be a scientific survey, through multiple interviews conducted
with Orang Asli families, it was learned that their average lifespan was less than
50 years, and child mortality was high. Some small huts built for them by the government had holes burnt through the floors because someone had started a fire for
heating or cooking.
At a reservation in Tasik Chini, Pahang, there were no permanent gardens seen
in or around the Orang Asli huts. A nurse practitioner noted that many of the resident Orang Asli that came to stay in the reservation often returned to the jungle after
a while (Figs. 4, 5 and 6).
Ecological realities that affected all Malaysians, the Orang Asli in particular,
included concern over the pace of development and its negative environmental
effects. Newspapers in the nation’s capital of Kuala Lumpur often featured
A Journey of Incremental Steps for the Orang Asli
benefit them through the national development programme that uprooted them in
the first place. Basic infrastructure like housing, health services and schooling were
provided at the reservations.
In 1972, the Orang Asli represented only 2–3% of the total population in Malaysia
(about 11.5 million). Little science-based information was available on the population’s diversity, languages, and lifestyle attributes. They were a small population
group with no money, status or influence. They practiced shifting cultivation and
many family units were diffusly scattered throughout the Malaysian Forests. The
government could not sacrifice the economic needs of the nation for a handful of
people, so it provided a reservation system for displaced Orang Asli and hoped for
the best.
Land conversion and related development then proceeded at a rapid pace, often
encroaching on native land. With the rapid population growth of other races (indigeneous Malay, Chinese, Indian), the Orang Asli could not thrive and would end up
becoming fewer as a percentage of the whole. The hope was that and with any success of the Orang Asli transitioning into adjacent cash economies, they would all but
disappear as an underserved, undeveloped people.
In Pahang Tenggara, however small and diffusely scattered the Orang Asli populations were, they primarily occupied the gently rolling lowland forests. Shifting
cultivation in small units was evident in certain areas, while individual home structures near rivers could be observed from the air. For the most part, the Orang Asli
were land security dependent — being hunter-gatherers, and fishermen, with incidental agricultural subsistence in their lifestyle. Depending on cash economies and
being wage security dependent were exceptions to the rule. The Orang Asli “earned”
their living from the forests and river systems they live in. Protecting their designated land and associated river systems and integrating the Orang Asli into cash and
wage security economies engulfing them was the challenge.
One interesting thing is that while visiting an Orang Asli reservation, some of my
Malay colleagues did not want to have their pictures taken next to an Orang Asli. I
am not sure why this was so. Perhaps they did not want to be mistakenly identified
as “one of them”. The Orang Asli bathed and fished in rivers and their tributaries.
Often, I would come across the Orang Asli washing their clothes and bathing in rivers near forest clearings or plantations (Figs. 2 and 3).
While it may not be a scientific survey, through multiple interviews conducted
with Orang Asli families, it was learned that their average lifespan was less than
50 years, and child mortality was high. Some small huts built for them by the government had holes burnt through the floors because someone had started a fire for
heating or cooking.
At a reservation in Tasik Chini, Pahang, there were no permanent gardens seen
in or around the Orang Asli huts. A nurse practitioner noted that many of the resident Orang Asli that came to stay in the reservation often returned to the jungle after
a while (Figs. 4, 5 and 6).
Ecological realities that affected all Malaysians, the Orang Asli in particular,
included concern over the pace of development and its negative environmental
effects. Newspapers in the nation’s capital of Kuala Lumpur often featured
A Journey of Incremental Steps for the Orang Asli