Subsistence Among the Orang Asli
080803 addendum:
there has been a recent development in litigation favoring the orang asli.
Although my original assignment was to research a culture referred to as
“Semang,” I believe that the application of this term illustrates how difficult it is, even for
anthropologists to understand another culture’s own terms for itself. Even R. J.
Wilkinson, in 1910 stressed that “The word Semang is a term applied by the
Malays of Kedah to the Negrito Aborigines who live in their country. Like most names
given by a dominant to a subject people, it has come to be regarded as contemptuous,”
(Wilkinson 9). According to Robert Knox Dentan, the term “Semang” refers to “(1) a
group of languages, closely related to Senoi (another language indigenous to Malaysia), &
(2) One or more people whose native language is Semang and who live primarily by
hunting, fishing & gathering. Semang are often said to be ‘Negritoes,’ racially different
from their neighbors” (“The Semai: a Nonviolent People of Malaysia” 106). Similarly, the
terms “pygmy” & “dwarf” have been applied to them, as well. The use of the words
“Negrito,” “race,” & “pygmy,” & “dwarf” can certainly be hotly debated topics in
Anthropological circles, and in this context they are meant to be used completely without
derogatory intent -- they are simply a description of shorter stature (males generally not
taller than 5 feet in height), darker complexion (skin tones ranging from those of Africans
to Asians in degrees of melanin & keratin), hair texture (ranging from straight to tightly
curled), and other subtle physiological characteristics. Their languages indicate traces of
an culture that predates the now dominant people of Malaysia. This linguistic similarity
links these people to aboriginal populations scattered throughout Burma, Indochina,
Ceylon, and Australia. There has been considerable genetic exchange between
neighboring cultures for the past few thousand years, and physiological differentiations
continue to blend with those of nearby ethnicities.
From the middle of the nineteenth century, anthropology in what is known as
Peninsular Malaysia has divided the local aboriginal population into three groups. These
groups are now officially known as the Negrito, Senoi, and Proto-Malay. For various
socio-political reasons, these three indigenous groups are now referred to as a group by
the Malay term “Orang Asli,” meaning “Original People.” This has been of great benefit
to their collective bargaining powers, and has even helped them to win recent court cases,
protecting their land rights, and affording them damages in situations where they have
been treated unfairly by corporate interests. However, the increased involvement with
industry and commerce has also begun to affect the daily lives of the Orang Asli.
According to the JHEOA (the Malaysian government’s Orang Asli Affairs Department),
the Statistics Department recorded 132,873 Orang Asli living in traditional settlements
during the year 2000 Census. This number does not include those considered by the
government to be ‘Malaysian,’ who are employed and residing in urban areas. Still, more
than 40% of the Orang Asli live in low-altitude tropical rainforests, which cover over
half of Peninsular Malaysia. And now, there are less than 3% of the total number of these
Orang Asli (only slightly more than 3,000) left engaging in a primarily hunter-gatherer
form of subsistence. Like the rest of their cultural heritage & identity, their original
subsistence activities and production resources were provided almost entirely by the
forest. They were able to trade for other useful items, like metal knives, also bartering
with products provided by the forest.
Their spiritual beliefs and religious practices are certainly rooted in the forest;
though these have undergone synthesis through connections with other cultures, such as
Catholic, Methodist, and Baha’i missionaries. Currently, it is primarily the Islamic ruling
government who is attempting to assimilate them. Although their ancient religion seems
more similar to Hinduism, they probably both share a common root with the animist
traditions common through out southern Asia. Probably the single most important value
unifying the variety of aboriginal cultures in this region, is that of complete devotion to
their community, as shown in their communal property distribution system. Since
everything is shared in a kinship band, there is no real personal property; and whenever
someone acquires food, any surplus beyond what is needed to feed one’s family is shared
with the community. Not to do so would be ‘punan,’ or taboo. According to Robert
Knox Dentan, ‘punan’ can be explained through this set of rules:
` ` One should not calculate the amount of a gift. “In this context saying
thank you is very rude, for it suggests, first that one has calculated the amount of a gift
and, second, that one did not expect the donor to be so generous. In fact, saying thank
you is punan” (“The Semai: a Nonviolent People of Malaysia” 49). It also prohibits the
direct exchange of goods.
One should share whatever one can afford. “Not to share is punan” (ibid 49).
One should not ask for more than a person can afford.
“The final rule is that it is punan to refuse a request” (ibid 49).
These last two 'rules' mean that “people rarely ask for outright gifts for fear
of putting the donor in punan” (ibid 49).
Punan does not only cover economic activity. Dentan also suggested other
punan 'rules': It is punan not to honour an agreement, prolonged nagging is punan, in fact
putting any kind of pressure on someone (child or adult) to do anything, to frustrate them,
or hurt their feelings in any way is punan (ibid 51, 61-3, 107). ‘ ‘ (qtd. fr. Hickson, bolding
added)
Also, mocking trapped animals is considered punan, because the animal cannot avenge
itself; although, humans are fair game for ridicule, since they can rebut any derision.
The concept of punan also relates to another crucial aspect of these cultures: “they
conceive of themselves as nonviolent” (“The Semai: a Nonviolent People of Malaysia”
56). Although an individual’s passions may, in an extremely rare and isolated incident, be
driven to violence towards another human, the culture as a whole reinforces each
individual’s self-image as one of non-violence, so this is the reality that everyone
experiences. Anything other would be ‘punan.’
This enculturation begins with children, who are permitted considerable freedom
(as long as they do nothurt themselves or others).
“If a parent tells a child to do something, and the child replies, ‘I bood,’ the
matter is closed. To put pressure on the child is punan” (ibid 58, italics added).
But children learn by example, and the only evidence these youth are witness to, is one of
non-violence. There is even a game where children are taught to assume threatening
postures and to strike towards one another with sticks, but to refrain from actually hitting
one another. The sticks are brought within centimeters of contact, but they do not strike
each other. This is but one of the ways in which they learn to control their aggression.
When asked why they do not corporally punish their children, they reply:
“ ‘How would you feel if it died?’ ... And similarly, one adult should never
hit another because, they say, ‘Suppose he hit you back?’ “ (ibid 58).
Respect for elders such as grandfathers not withstanding, decision making among
the Orang Asli is extremely egalitarian. Decision-making is based on consensus with great
autonomy of action for each and everyone (Bahuchet). Only in the past few decades have
the urban Governments begun to assign ‘headman’ status to an elder in each band with
whom the government wishes to conduct business. Within the tribe, the headman’s
‘authority’ is considered, but not always granted.
Marriage is sought among those outside of one’s kinship band. Bride-purchase
through gifts to prospective in-laws is the essential idea behind traditional marriage. After
marriage, the bride comes to live with her new husband’s kinship band.
The ‘lean-to,’ a one-walled shed, is the basic shelter for these people. Their
furniture consists of a bed and a hearth, or sometimes a fire on either side of the bedding
in particularly cold and wet times. Generally, these shelters are arranged facing towards
one another. There is almost no privacy, but then privacy is punan, too! No one has
anything to hide from the community who is working for the common good, and gossip in
such a tight community as these insures cooperation with little room for surreptitious
drama before someone is brought in to settle the differences, finally and completely. This
impartial party is their only form of judicial system. As a last resort, one or both parties to
a dispute can almost always find a different kinship band with which to live.
In this tropical land, there has never been enough stone to be found for its people
to achieve what Europeans refer to as the ‘stone-age.’ Therefore, these indigenous people
have achieved a sort of ‘bamboo-age’ where they make an amazing variety, practically all
of their tools & utensils are made from bamboo. Fungus strands and fibers from vines are
adorned with beads, seeds, shells, bones, teeth, leaves, bark, bamboo, and flowers are
made into necklaces, headbands, girdles, ornaments, charms, & talismans. Porcupine nose
quills are popular. For the women, bamboo combs ornately carved with designs of leaves
& flowers as the most potent of all wards against danger. Men use similar patterns carved
into their cases of blowgun-darts or quivers of arrows. Other items a person might carry
include bags & wallets woven from reeds, or perhaps a box for tobacco, obtained from the
Malays. Musical instruments are also common: a sort of ‘Jew’s harp,’ the nose-flute, and a
transverse mouth-flute are most often played; but bamboo guitars & zithers are sometimes
encountered. Bamboo logs can be struck with cudgels, or their openings can be fanned
with thick palm leaves for percussion. Their festivities are filled with instrumental music,
singing, and dancing. Most often, dances are performed in small same-sex groups and are
choreographed rituals rather than mating behavior.
Ritual scarification/tattooing is still performed traditionally, by making incisions
with the razor-sharp serrated edges of sugar-cane leaves, and subsequently rubbing
charcoal powder into the wounds.
Evans reported in 1937, of witnessing rock art depictions of just about anything
that the Orang Asli had seen: people, animals, plants, houses, tools, motor vehicles, etc.
(Evans 127-128). Some of the urbanized Orang Asli have been known to support
themselves through selling scultptures and paintings. And there is a humorous
cartoonist and animator named Lat, who has Orang Asli heritage, and is fairly well-known
throughout Malaysia.
Although more urbanized clothing such as saris & t-shirts are common now,
traditional clothing consisted of nothing but a girdle, or loincloth; which is still worn often
throughout the year, and almost always during celebrations & dances.
Hunters carry their long bow & arrows, and are most proud of their blowgun and
darts. A blowgun dart dosed with poison from the ‘ipoh’ tree can kill birds & small
animals almost instantly. But these clever hunters actually prefer not to kill their prey
instantly -- for dead animals make no noise, and it is much easier to find a struggling,
injured animal making noise on the jungle floor of the tropical forest. The blowgun has
become somewhat of a symbol of pride even among urbanized Orang Asli, who want to
project a symbol of their ethnicity.
Horticulture, and slash-and-burn (‘swidden’) agriculture is now practiced by
almost all of the Orang Asli. They grow rice, yams, manioc (tapioca), maize, sugar-cane,
fruit and vegetables. Traditionally, their nutritional requirements were met by hunting,
trapping, fishing and gathering. Food grows throughout the year, so no surplus is
necessary; but there is little leisure time. They have alwas gathered many products from
the wild: tubers, fruits, fungi, nuts, young shoots, and poison for their arrows and darts.
Chickens and dogs have long been kept as domestic animals; but cats, ducks, goats, cattle,
and water buffalo have been introduced recently. Immature wild animals are also cared
for. For instance, when a hunted animal’s young are discovered, these are often raised as
animal companions, and eventually traded to other groups, who could use it for food; but
no one would eat their own pets! Small wild game is hunted throughout the year. But
hunters must be wary of elephants, rhinos, cobras, and tigers, which are all avoided, if
possible.
Although kinship bands of six to a dozen households have a territory which is
recognized by other kinship bands, this does not mean there is any ownership of the land.
Bands are welcome to pass through, or even hunt, gather, and camp in each other’s
territory; but fruit and poison trees are left alone until bands return to their home
territories. Blood-bound inheritance rights apply to the use of these fruit and poison
producing trees. But this is more like inheriting a responsibility to care for the trees;
rather than ownership, for the entire community benefits from them.
Deforestation from agribusiness, logging, dams, mines, and the creation of military
zones has caused population displacement, increasing loss of traditional ways of life, and
disruption of territory rights. Some groups are still able to live in almost complete
dependence on the forest; but many will now use government village settlements as base
camps. Others live mostly in these government settlements. Roads are constructed to
these communities and they are plagued by corporate interests for development of
agricultural projects, principally those of oil palm and rubber. Occasionally, dominant
governments of Malaysia have attempted to force these people into stationary settlements,
which immediately leads to impoverishment and death for many individuals -- who, for
lack of better explanation, are simply too depressed to continue living without their forest
homes.
Although trees can reach a height of 300 feet here, violent storms can uproot these
forest giants. Disease, thunder, flood, and wind are the most devastating forces with
which these natives have to contend. The general belief seems to be that these ‘Acts of
God’ are caused by punan. Those individuals who are affected by the cataclysmic events
feel responsible for bring down wrath from the heavens. At the sign of one of these
dangers, an individual who feels some guilt may expiate their punan through “chuntoh” (a
blood-sacrifice). This is accomplished by repeatedly stabbing into one’s own shin with a
sharp splinter of bamboo. The blood is drained into a cup, mixed with some water, and
thrown into the sky with various incantations of banishment. Sometimes, the assistance of
a shaman (called a “hala”) is enlisted to petition the gods for mercy. Also, through a sort
of spiritual poetry, shamans can call upon the “chenoi,” who are friendly little fairy
creatures that live in flowers and can act as guardian angels to people who are afflicted
with diseases or other dangers. However, there do not seem to be any sort of regular
ceremonies or festival-times to observe spiritual matters. Death is not a central cultural
concern; but there is belief in life-after-death. There are simple funerary rites to observe
passing of the deceased by placing food & drink in the grave. Some traditions refer to the
‘land of the dead across the sea, under the earth’ and ‘abodes of the gods in the heavens’
(Evans Appendix III). This lack of emphasis on matters relating to death shows that these
people are obviously primarily concerned with a celebration of life on Earth.
Although the various traditions of the Orang Asli are blending together with one
another, there have always been a few things that they all share in common. Particularly,
other cultures have always dispossessed and persecuted them. Their response to this
abuse has been to simply retreat into the jungle; but that option is quickly being denied to
them. It is ironic that other cultures perceive the traditional living conditions of the Orang
Asli as being poor; because, they were rarely unable to meet their own needs when they
lived in the rainforest. Dentan quotes one Orang Asli saying,
“ We want to live slamad, in peace & security. That’s why we don’t steal things. ... The funny thing is that it’s the richer peoples who steal things, not us. We don’t want trouble. Besides, we don’t want to be rich. As long as we have enough to eat, that’s enough. If you’re rich, you get endless hassles, no slamad. That’s why we don’t want to be rich. We want slamad.” ("The Semai of Malaysia.” 214)
Works Cited
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---. The Semai: a Nonviolent People of Malaysia. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.
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