Orang Asli Case Study

SST 5602 – LAND USE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

CASE STUDY : SCUFFLE AT GUA MUSANG / RIGHTS DENIED / A BAMBOO BLOCKADE

TEMIAR ABORIGINES VS KELANTAN STATE GOVERNMENT

1.0INTRODUCTION

1.1 MALAYSIAN ABORIGINES (ORANG ASLI) ORIGINS

The Orang Asli are indigenous peoples of Peninsula Malaysia. The term ‘Orang Asli’ is a Malay expression translated from the ‘original peoples’ or ‘first peoples’. In Peninsular Malaysia, Orang Asli is the earliest population which lives in since about 9,000 years ago. (Perak Man). It is believed that most of them came from China and Tibet which followed the migration routes through mainland of Southeast Asia before foothold in the Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesian archipelago. The ‘Orang Asli’ is a collective term introduced by anthropologists and administrators for the 19 sub-ethnic groups generally classified for official purposes under Semang (Negrito), Senoi and Aboriginal Malay (Proto Malay), which make up only 0.6% of the total Malaysian population (Figure 1). The Orang Asli were the earliest migrants to Peninsular Malaysia and their history and classifications based on genetics criteria are not clear. The Orang Asli were said to have diverged from each other as recent as 200 to 300 generations ago. This divergence of Orang Asli found in Peninsular Malaysia.

Figure 1. Categories of ethnics of Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia

Source : Department of Orang Asli Development, Ministry of Rural and Regional Development, 2012

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