Gaya Hidup Orang Asli : Lifestyles of the Aboriginal People (27th Sept 2010)

Malaysia’s indigenous communities represent a small but important part of the nation’s multi racial milieu. These communities are disproportionately spread out between the small and frequently isolated communities found in the peninsular and the Malaysian Borneo states of Sarawak and Sabah where they make up 50 to 60 percent of the respective states’ populations.

The ‘Orang Asli’ are made up of nearly a hundred different ethnic sub-groups. These include around twenty in Peninsular Malaysia although administratively they are categorized as Negrito, Senoi, and Aboriginal Malay. Sabah and Sarawak, on the other hand, has between thirty to forty distinct sub-group each with an even more amazing number of languages and dialects.

The Department of Orang Asli Affairs or JHEOA is entrusted with the care and administration of the indigenous communities. Its mandate includes the eradication of poverty, improvement of health, promoting education and improving their general livelihoods and where possible and desired, their integration with mainstream Malaysian society.