THE ORANG ASLI COMMUNITY

The Orang Asli (Aborigines) community is one that can be found throughout the Peninsular Malaysia except for Perlis and Penang. Their settlements and existence are found mostly in Pahang followed by Perak, Kelantan and others.

From their belief aspects, the Orang Asli community has animism customs and beliefs. Their belief systems revolve around the roles of gods, spirits, and other similar deity. Their view of the world is heavily influenced by the physical world around their environment. Therefore, forests, mountains, lightning and others are considered to have their own meaning for this community. This has led to many ritual acts and dos and don’ts in their daily lives based on their beliefs.

From the organizational and social structural aspects, this community still retains and emphasise the spirit of cooperation and creating a tribe led by a headman called “Batin”, who is responsible to care for and guard the safety of the tribe and also liaises with the outside world. The Batin has the authority to set rules relating to the tribe and punishments for offences committed by the members of the tribe. In addition, the tribe believes in the shaman or “bomoh” who decides on the ritual aspects and acts as the connection to their faith.

Changes experienced by this community is related to their diminishing belief in animism since independence in 1957. This is because of the increase in teachings of other religions including Islam to this community. However there are still many who practice animism and syncretism process with other religions.

Visits

Normal visits will be more welcomed if made in the evening, as the daytime is usually full with their work activities. Generally the members of the Orang Asli community work for themselves, such as being farmers, sourcing and selling forest products, fishing, hunting and others.

Upon arriving at the “rumah irang” house to be visited, a guest should first wait by the side of the house and pretend to cough to catch the attention of the house owner. Calls are normally made by calling the name of the eldest child of the house owner. If the eldest is called “Alang” then the call can be made as follows “..is Alang’s father in the house?”.

The evenings and nights are times to rest and enjoyment. At this time, friends and other associates are welcomed to come without any restrictions. If a guest arrives during mealtimes it is better for the guest to eat together with the host. It is considered rude if a guest refuses to partake in the feast served by the host. Orang Asli community would be extremely happy if their guests are willing to eat the food served.

The visits are usually made to chat or listen to old stories. This will make them recall old memories and happy events. Sometimes, this time is also used to learn spells.

Birth

A husband will usually inform the neighbours when the wife is ready to deliver. It is customary for women to visit the wife to help out where they can.

The Orang Asli do not like visitors to praise the beauty of the newborn. It is believed that when babies were praised with words such as “…oh! this baby is so cute.”, the evil spirits will hear and take the baby. This would be proven if the baby falls sick, fever etc.

Many dos and don’ts must be followed by the expectant mother which are also imposed to the father to be. One of the important prohibitions is that the father to be shall NOT go fishing. The couple is also forbidden from eating venison and deer.

Marriage

The marriage customs of each tribe differ from each other. For the Orang Asli tribe in Selangor, both newlyweds must listen to the advice of whoever attends especially the advice given by older people about their responsibility as husbands and wives. These advices can take several hours to be given.

The Orang Asli community rarely makes formal invitation to weddings. Everyone in the village and most from the neighbouring villages will usually attend without a formal invitation. Rice will be served to every one who attends unti it finishes.

Deaths

Normally, when a death in a village is known all work such as farming, hunting or house construction will immediately cease. According to their beliefs whoever continues with their work when hearing about a death, will have sickness or disaster upon him.

When there is a death, all children will have their ears marked by a charmed chalk. Coal will be smeared on the eyebrow, chest and soles of the feet. Through this way, all the evil spirits believed to have killed the deceased would not bother the child who has the “shield” on. The shield is important especially at night.

The deceased’s body will usually be accompanied to the graveyard by the majority of the villagers. After the burial, the family of the deceased will send food to the graveyard and light fire at the graveyard every day for six days. Within the same time a bonfire is also lit beneath the deceased’s house. Charmed fine sand will be scattered along the walls of the house with the hope of getting it into the eye of evil spirits which are still around. This practice will be continued for six days as the spirit of the deceased is believed to roam the house and grave within that period.