Digital Media Design 1 : MMD2113: Project's Research

Research Method

- K
ey documentations
- Purposive surveys
- Dialogues
- Focus group discussions
- Browsing internet

- Visiting Museum Orang Asli
- Visiting Orang Asli settlements
- Interview Orang Asli (Q & A)
- Doing some surveys about Orang Asli

Field Research

Fact Findings

The Orang Asli have deep respect for the rainforest as have their fathers and the fathers before them. They ask for little and are contented with living at the fringes of the rainforest. They are governed by traditions, taboos and animism practices passed down from their forefathers. Orang Asli are one of the few aborigines in the world who do not practice of animal killing for “coming of age” rituals. They do not wear animal skins or furs and one will never find parts of animals hung in homes as hunting trophy. Orang Asli have deep respect for wildlife and only hunt for sustenance. Orang Asli has uncanny ways of making traps to suit every kind of prey, enemy and situation. They modified animal traps to cripple terrorists and turned bamboos into lethal weapons. Village pecking order puts the “Tok Batin”, or chieftain, on top. It’s always polite to visit him first and introduce yourselves before rummaging the rest of the village to look for a place to overnight or sightseeing. It’s easy to spot the Tok Batin. He’s usually the one with the whitest hair in the village.
Once accepted, the Orang Asli can be the nicest people on earth and you become part of their extended family.

Interview

Dialogue below i translated into english.

Q: What is your name?
A: Din.
Q: How old are you?
A: 30 years old.
Q: What is your marital status?
A: Married.
Q: How long have you been married?
A: 5 years.
Q: How many children do you have?
A: 6.
Q: What do you do for living?
A: Gardening cassava, rubber and durian. I also sell handcrafts.
Q: What is your daily meal?
A: Fish and cassava. If I got extra money, only then I buy rice.
Q: What is your hobby?
A: Playing takraw, chatting, fishing and handcrafting.
Q: What time do you sleep and wake up?
A: I sleep at 8 p.m. at wake up at 7 a.m.

Observation

From what I observed about Orang Asli after visiting them, they are not a homogeneous race, which means that they have diverse cultures, traditions and ways of living, beliefs, and languages. All of these depend on the ethnicity and the location of the Orang Asli. However, the thing that doesn't differentiate an Orang Asli sub-ethnic from another is that their holistic relationship, life dependency and their identity existence are so much related to and dependent on land and nature. I also figured out some Orang Asli's probems.
The small number of Orang Asli is one of the many factors contributing to their current problems. Orang Asli have now become like refugees and illegal immigrants in their own country. Among the core problems are land ownership, culture, identity, and the lost of rights as the Orang Asli. We should respect them as the original people of this country, but they are being left out in the field of education and development. Most of the non-Orang Asli in Malaysia refers to the Orang Asli as a barbaric and backward community (that was also my thought before went to the Orang Asli settlements). Hence there are many who say that the Orang Asli is a community that is too lazy to work hard to develop themselves and their race. Plus, there is no space for the Orang Asli to speak out about their dissatisfaction on certain aspects of the government policy towards them. The strict control by the government resulted in the Orang Asli community being unaware that they actually have rights to claim and can speak out about. Besides, when dealing directly with Orang Asli, especially when they hail from impoverished backgrounds, money is an important ethical consideration, the bottom line being whether money can buy information, or even more crucially, if the availability of money encourages false information.