Akar Nusa
At dawn in a forest valley in Perak, smoke rises from a village. A grandmother calls the children in the language of her mother, a language that has been spoken on this land for a very long time. Her people have a name for themselves. It is not "Orang Asli". That is a name other people gave.
The story
The Orang Asli are the Indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. The name is a Malay term. It means "original peoples" or "first peoples". The Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) explains that it is a collective term brought in by anthropologists and officials. In 2010 there were 178,197 Orang Asli, about 0.6 percent of Malaysia's people.
The Government officially recognises 18 sub-groups. For official purposes they are placed in three bigger groups: Negrito (also called Semang), Senoi and Proto-Malay. Names that COAC and scholars use include Jahai, Batek, Kensiu and Lanoh among the Negrito group; Semai, Temiar, Mah Meri and Che Wong among the Senoi group; and Temuan, Semelai and Orang Kanaq among the Proto-Malay group. COAC lists the full 18, and each has its own language and culture. Please say the group's own name, for example "Semai" or "Temiar", whenever you know it.
COAC makes an important point. In the past, each community saw itself as belonging to its own river valley and its own land. A shared identity as "Orang Asli" came later, partly through contact with outsiders and partly through hard times. Some words once used by outsiders were insulting. One of them, "Sakai", is a word that COAC says Orang Asli detest. We do not use it.
Their languages tell part of the story. Many northern groups speak Aslian languages, which belong to the Austroasiatic family and are linked to peoples in Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina. Most Proto-Malay groups speak Austronesian languages, with two exceptions, the Semelai and Temoq, who speak Austroasiatic ones.
Genetic studies agree that the Orang Asli are not one simple story. A 2006 study of mother-line DNA found that the Semang have a deep ancestry in the Peninsula, going back to more than 50,000 years ago. The Senoi appear to be a mix, with about half their mother lines going back to the same roots as the Semang and about half to Indochina. A 2015 study found signs of multiple waves of migration.
Where you can still see it today
- In the forests and villages. Many Orang Asli communities live in forest areas or on the forest edge. Please visit only with an invitation or through a community-run programme.
- In the languages. Aslian languages and Malay dialects are living languages. They are not museum pieces.
- In crafts. Where communities sell their own crafts, buy from them directly.
- In the news and in court. COAC reports on land cases, such as the Semai case at Kampung Senta.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
For many Orang Asli communities, region estimates and mother and father lines can point to very old roots in the Peninsula and to Southeast Asian connections. The Semang and Senoi stories on this shelf say more.
DNA cannot decide who is Orang Asli. That is a matter of family, community and law. DNA also cannot decide race, religion or bumiputera status. And a test result is not a substitute for the knowledge that communities hold about themselves.
