Orang Asli Now
Orang Asli political activity is growing in West Malaysia. The political ascendancy of this small minority of tribal people stems from its long standing quest for greater self-identity. However, its vibrancy today is also due in no small part to a new willingness by the Government of Malaysia (GOM) to entertain the notion of an Orang Asli polity.
This particular policy shift which energizes Orang Asli political development is in fact a byproduct of broad Malaysian government policies designed to enhance ethnic pluralism and to foster greater political stabilization among Malaysia's primary ethnic groups--the Malay, Chinese and Indians. However, the fledgling Orang Asli political movement itself remains a relatively unexplored enigma.
A virtual information vacuum exists about political matters germane to the Orang Asli. Orang Asli organizations devoted to politics are known to exist but there is no in-depth knowledge available to readers about these entities or their agendas. Nor are the specifics of their relationships with the Malaysian government and/or one another well understood.
Orang Asli Now: The Orang Asli in the Malaysian Political World rectifies this deficiency. It explores avenues of Orang Asli participation in the political process, identifies various factions within the broader Orang Asli movement, and examines their interaction with other Malaysian political groups. The study draws upon unstructured, in-depth interviews with Orang Asli leaders and GOM officials possessing, as well as media and other sources. It is the first research endeavor to supply a comprehensive and intimate internal perspective of the Orang Asli polity as it emerges from relative obscurity.
This study is a natural sequel to my earlier work--Power and Politics: The Story of Malaysia's Orang Asli--the first political history of the Orang Asli. In this precursory study the Orang Asli are shown to have a flair for politics and to be in possession of an unusual degree of political sophistication, often unsuspected. In fact the Orang Asli today are heirs to a little known but clearly discernable 400 year old polity.
The task here is to discover the substance of the Orang Asli polity in order to analyze and evaluate its role in contemporary Malaysian politics. Focusing upon one of its more enigmatic aspects this research broadens and enriches the study of Malaysian political ethnicity. It takes readers on a journey deep into uncharted territory and the very heart of the Orang Asli political movement. RDLJ, Kuala Lumper, 1999