Orang Asli: Difference between revisions

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|popplace = {{flag|Malaysia}}

|langs = {{ubl|[[Aslian languages]] ([[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]])|[[Aboriginal Malay languages]] ([[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]])}}

 

'''Orang Asli''' (''lit''. "native people", "original people", or "aboriginal people" in [[Malay language|Malay]]) are a [[Homogeneity and heterogeneity|heterogeneous]] [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] population forming a national minority in [[Malaysia]]. They are the oldest inhabitants of [[Peninsular Malaysia]].

* [[Negrito]] (or [[Semang]]), generally located in the northern portion of the peninsula, were short dark-skinned nomadic [[hunter-gatherers]] with Asiatic facial features and tightly curly hair.

* [[Senoi]] (or Sakai), residing in the central region, were wavy-haired people taller than the Negrito, engaged in [[slash-and-burn]] agriculture, and periodically changed their place of residence.

 

This division does not claim to be scientific and has many shortcomings.<ref name="DTRARPS" /> The boundaries between the groups are not fixed, and merge into each other, and the Orang Asli themselves use names associated with their specific area or by a local term meaning 'human being'.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Andaya |first=Leonard Y. |title=Orang Asli and the Melayu in the History of the Malay Peninsula |date=2002 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41493461 |journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume=75 |issue=1 (282) |pages=23–48 |jstor=41493461 |issn=0126-7353}}</ref>

 

 

The Proto-Malays, who speak [[Austronesian languages]], migrated to the area between 2000 and 1500&nbsp;BCE during the [[Austronesian expansion]]. Along with the [[ethnic Malay]]s, they originated from the seaborne migration of the [[Austronesian peoples]], ultimately from [[Aboriginal Taiwanese|Taiwan]]. It is believed that Proto-Malays were the first wave of [[Proto-Malayo-Polynesian]] speakers that settled Borneo and the western [[Sunda Islands]] initially, but didn't penetrate [[Peninsula Malaysia]] due to preexisting populations of Austroasiatic speakers. Later Austronesian migrations from either western Borneo or Sumatra, settled the coastal areas of Peninsular Malaysia became the modern [[Malayic]]-speaking populations ("Deutero-Malays").<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Andaya |first=Leonard Y. |title=Orang Asli and the Melayu in the History of the Malay Peninsula |date=2002 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41493461 |journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume=75 |issue=1 (282) |pages=27 |jstor=41493461 |issn=0126-7353}}</ref> However, other authors have also concluded that there is no real distinction between Proto-Malays and Deutero-Malays, and both are descendants of a single migration event into Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and southern Vietnam from western Borneo, This migration diverged into the modern speakers of the [[Malayic]] and [[Chamic]] branches of the Austronesian language family.<ref name="Blust2019">{{cite journal |last1=Blust |first1=Robert |title=The Austronesian Homeland and Dispersal |journal=Annual Review of Linguistics |date=14 January 2019 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=417–434 |doi=10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011718-012440|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The Aboriginal Peoples Act is the only law that specifically applies to the Orang Asli.<ref name="OARPS">{{cite book|author=Colin Nicholas |title= Orang Asli: Right, Problems & Solutions |url=http://www.coac.org.my/dashboard/modules/cms/cms~file/6a54e49eb50bf6af44f31ab443fb82a2.pdf|publisher=Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia (SUHAKAM), Center for Orang Asli Concerns |date=2010 |isbn=978-983-2523-65-9 |access-date=2021-04-10}}</ref> It defines and describes in detail the terms and concepts for recognising the status of Orang Asli communities. Legally, Orang Asli is defined as members of an indigenous ethnic group who are of such origin or who have been admitted into the community by adoption, or they are children from mixed marriages with the indigenous, provided that they speak the indigenous language and follow the way of life, customs and beliefs of the indigenous people. Preservation of the traditional way of life involves the reservation of land for the Orang Asli. Legislation of such matters concerning the Orang Asli is the National Land Code 1965, Land Conservation Act 1960, Protection of Wildlife Act 1972, National Parks Act 1980, and most importantly the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954. The Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 provides for the setting up and establishment of the Orang Asli Reserve Land. However, the Act also includes the power according to the Director-General of the JHEOA to order Orang Asli out of such reserved land at its discretion, and award compensation to affected people, also at its discretion.<ref name=coacland>{{cite web|publisher=Center for Orang Asli Concerns|url=http://www.coac.org.my/codenavia/portals/coacv2/code/main/main_art.php?parentID=11400226426398&artID=11475792539604|title=The Law on Natural Resource Management|access-date=2 February 2008}}</ref> The state government may also revoke the reserve status of these lands at any time, and the Orang Asli will have to relocate, and even in the event of such relocation, the state government is not obliged to pay any compensation or allocate an alternative site to the affected Orang Asli victims. A landmark case on this matter is in the 2002 case of [[Sagong Tasi|''Sagong bin Tasi & Ors v Kerajaan Negeri Selangor'']]. The case was concerned with the state government using its powers conferred under the 1954 Act to evict Orang Asli from gazetted Orang Asli Reserve Land. The [[High Courts of Malaysia|High Court]] ruled in favour of Sagong Tasi, who represented the Orang Asli, and this decision was upheld by the [[Court of Appeal (Malaysia)|Court of Appeal]].<ref name="coacland" /> Nevertheless, customary land disputes between Orang Asli and the state government still occurs from time to time. In 2016, the Kelantan state government was sued due to a dispute over land by Orang Asli.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/343518 |title=Temiar Orang Asli get day in court against Kelantan gov't |author=Alyaa Azhar |publisher=Malaysia Kini |date=30 May 2016 |access-date=2016-12-22}}</ref>

 

[[File:Taman Negara (30509997143).jpg|thumb|A [[Batek people|Batek]] family in [[Kuala Tahan]], [[Pahang]]]]

While Malays have been considered a "native people" in Malaysia since colonial times, the Orang Asli, according to local notions, are communities of "primitive" people who never formed an "effective statehood"<ref name="EIAIR"/> and were dependent on the Malay state with political status determined by the practice of Islam, knowledge of the Malay language, and compliance with the norms of Malay society preferring that the Orang Asli "''masuk Melayu''" which is "to become a Malay."<ref name="EIAIR"/>The Malaysian state government does not recognise the Orang Asli as a "people" at all in the sense as defined in United Nations documents.<ref name="Nicholas"/> The Orang Asli's "nativeness" is their attempt to defend a broader political autonomy. Recently, some Orang Asli groups, with the support of volunteer lawyers, have made some progress in asserting their constitutional rights to customary lands and resources in the courts. They demanded compensation in accordance with the principles of common law and the international rights of indigenous peoples.<ref name="MOP1-38"/>

 

 

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