my trip to Orang Asal/Asli's village

As soon as I got the reply letter from JHEOA, I made an appointment with the person in charge of indigenous people in 'Daerah Petaling/Gombak' to guide me into the villages. I set the date on Thursday with Kak Zie and Vivian Ng Suet Yuan accompanied me to the village. 

We set off around 8 plus in the morning, made our way to Gombak using the MRR2 and the trunk road to Genting/Bentong way, where the 'Muzium Orang Asli' situated at. We met Kak Zie and went into my car to the village which is situated off the road on the way to Genting. It was a quiet winding road and mostly big trucks uses it. There're few houses and shops located along the way, and there's a recreation park in between, nearby a stream, just off below the road.

Then we reached to a 3 road junction where the The University of Malaya Field Studies Centre of the Ulu Gombak Biodiversity Centre situated and another road which leads to the Orang Asal's Village. Kak Zie led the way til Tok Batin's house. From outside, the house look like normal brick,cemented house. It looked quite run down as well with the roof fell.

Tok Batin's Brick house, given by the Government.

Then a trail led us up to few 'kampung' houses built on stilts along the hillside. 

Side Right trail leading up towards to 'kampung' houses.

1st handmade house. It looked quite shabby. 

From overall look of the 1st handmade house. It's quite small

Tok Batin's house.

When we reached at Tok Batin's house, we were mesmerized by the craftsmanship and the condition of the house. Even though it looked quite shabby as well, but it was amazing. It was made mostly of bamboo and other hard wood as stilts. We brought 5kg or 10kg (which I can't remember) of rice for them. We sat on the straw mat laid on the wood floor and talked to Tok Batin and his wife. The house, is so cooling, there's no fan at all. The wall are made of bamboos where the main structure were made of hardwood whichever they can find in the jungle. 

internal view out

the entrance from the stairs with both right and left side are the seating area with straw mat on it.

The roof structure with is made of bamboo on hard wood frames and stilts.

Tok Batin; Batin Ulang anak Simpang and his wife with son in law in background.

They offered us a cup of tea each, it was nice of them. 

We could see they rare cats, chickens and dog as well. Chickens were underneath the house, as the house were elevated on stilts, cats and kittens, inside the house where i was 'harassed' by one of the kitten. It's sooo adorable, but it wont leave me, keep harassing my jeans and my leg. My gosh the claws are long and sharp. Naughty little fella.

being 'harassed' by that little kitten

then 2. I can't concentrate on asking questions and listening to them, as those fellas keep scratching my leg and my papers.

i kept going with the interview despite the black/white kitten nicely,  finding itself comfortable between my legs.  Then the small girl helped to carry those kittens away from me. Finally!

We started to talk casually, asking generally bout their tribe, where were they originated from, what do they do, how were the houses look like in back in those days, and their religion. 

Both husband and wife answered and happily telling their stories, their histories and so forth. It was enjoyable.

They were both from Temuan Tribe, and originated from Indonesia, centuries ago. Their forefathers then rowed boat to Malaya, and settled at the southern parts of peninsula of Malaya.  Some scattered around the peninsula, and a lot settled in Selangor itself. As for Tok Batin's great grandfather who were staying at Bukit Nanas, Kuala Lumpur, where the KL Tower is now,  shifted to Kuala Langat when Kuala Lumpur was undergoing with development during the English occupation. Then they were shifted again to Gombak area, where they are staying now.

According to Tok Batin and his wife, Temuans used to believed animism, then Tok Batin believes in Islam. They used to eat sorts of animals which can be found in jungle as well as vegetation which are planted by them along hillside. But after believing in Islam, there're restricted animals which can't be eaten.

As for the house, this handmade house was made by Tok Batin himself 4 years ago and only both husband and wife stays there. His step daughter and her husband stays at the house opposite Tok Batin's house. Tok Batin goes into the jungle with his family to look for hard woods and bamboo which are suitable to build this house. They prefer to stay in the handmade house than the brickhouse which was given by the government because it has the natural ventilation with cool air compared to the hot and  no ventilation. As the head of the village, he built this house for the reason of keeping the tradition and the history of his tribe even though it was mixed with some modern materials.

He learned building houses from his father and the knowledge were passed down generations after generations. The wood logs were originally tied by using rotan, but now, he mixed both rotan and nails. It takes a month for them to find and carry the materials from the inner jungle out to their house site. Mostly, the hard wood they find are Cengal, Mengkelat and other wood.

Oil Lamp being used while their house not supplied with electricity. 

Part of their room, which is outside their closed room and kitchen.

The roof partly made of atap and bamboo. The owner said it does leak, but they're still living with it.

The kitchen where everything there.

kitchen washing area. water keep flowing.

even though there's fluorescent light casing there, but there's no bulb.

part storage, roof area.

can see how the wood crosses over.

clothes storage area just outside their room

part opened to sunlight with transparent zinc.

extruded storage area from the living room.

house on stilts where the chicken roam freely underneath

externally, it does look big, but just enough for 2 people.
the extruded ones are the storage area.

the extruded storage area

Tok Batin with wife and grandchild.

From Left: Kak Zie, Tok Batin's wife, me and tok batin.

Vivian, took the corner just to avoid the cat. that area she's at, is the best.

Orchids planted by Tok Batin, for earning a living.

Stream nearby with clear water for washing and bathing. Amazing Nature.

There's another trail on the left which leads to farms organized by themselves.

the stream is just soo chilling.

Another part of flower planting by Tok Batin himself.

From the interview, they're leaving happily and comfortably in the wooden house. They prefer to stay nearby to the nature than near to the city or developed area. Even the government or developer wants to help them or bring them out near to the town or more developed area, they prefer and will shift to inner to the jungle as long there's nature and clean water source.

Tok Batin said himself, he can envision the orang asli's culture is diminishing soon due to the development and because of that, he build wooden houses to tell the history and the living style of the orang asli.

Though we only spent very short time there, I think I'll go there again one day and visit them and the place. The stream is awesome but scared of leech. 

Thank you Vivian Ng Suet Yuan for accompanying me to the site. :)

yeah!!

I got the reply fax from JHEOA!! yeah!!

Even though i haven really read it yet, as my mom received it, I got approved to proceed with my research! woohoo!!

time to pull up my sleeves and get going!

Rejected

AH! Heartbreak

I got rejected by the chief village, Tok Batin.

He was clearly at home, but rejected to meet people :'(

I wanna interview others, but without the consent of the Jabatan and Tok Batin, i respect the them and the situation.

I shall go and confront him again later. CONFRONTATION~

Interview questions to the Orang Asal people.

These are sample of questions which I'm going to ask the Orang Asal people.

First, their background identity. Generally.

1. As Temuan tribe, what are the local culture of Temuan?
2. where are the origin place for the Temuan?
3. what does Temuan does for living? What does the men, women, elderly and kids do as routine or are there any routine?
4. how does the houses then looked like? what and how does it made of?
5. what are the spaces or rooms in the houses look like?
6. are the building and constructing methods are based on the culture which passed down generation after generation?
7. are there any significant elements for the houses built?

Then their current situation. Personally.

1. how long have you been staying in this area?
2. Where did you stay before moving into this area?
3. what do you do for living? before and after staying in this place.
4. how many people are there staying in this house?
5. what are the pros and cons staying in the old house and the new house? E.G: architecture effects; cooling/hot, big/small, comfortable/not comfortable. etc.
6. what do you think of the new development which acquire the Orang Asli land, building houses and facilities for the people and community. is it helping the community to develop or is it causing the community to fall?
7. are you familiar with the spaces given in the house? do you use all the designated areas?
8. is the house's spaces sufficient for you?
9. do you think the new development which helps the orang asli to develop will actually diminish the actual culture and lifestyle of orang asli?

the future proposed plan.

1. If I were to build new houses for you, where do you think is suitable and preferred? What kind of houses do you wish to stay?
2. Do you think by building a transitional/mixture of your originality and the modern would help you and your people to adapt instead of whole new development?
3. Can you envision what will be of the orang asli? people who has been develop and in par with the other culture and races? or still in transition for changes?

All these, i need to translate to BM for the interview.... oh man....

Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli Malaysia

I've submitted forms to the JHEOA for conducting the research regarding the Orang Asli. 

Areas to be covered will be in Daerah Gombak Petaling as I've asked Pn Rogayah, at the office earlier, whichever near and consists of those orang asli (asal) who still stays in remote jungle and those who are out, staying at a developed area such as Damansara Perdana. However, I need to wait for 1 week for approval to enter the villages which is gonna be 2 weeks after since next week has holidays. 

I shall try to go to the one at Damansara Perdana this weekend and talk to Batin, which is the Tok Penghulu or the Head of Village and do my research at that area. anyone has things to donate and i can collect and go to the village? this weekend, Sunday. 

As I've asked Pn Rogayah, I can interview the person in charge of the villages for Daerah Gombak Petaling.

I'm late in doing this, been lost in translation n transition. 

Stay tune and wait for my next update. shall plan properly 1st. 

Lost in Transition

It's been a while, i last update this blog.

I was lost. Honestly, after the 2nd tutorial, til now, I am lost. Where's my memory of my work? *bang bang*

I'm trying to recall what I need to do. 5 W and 1 H

What?
Who?
When?
Where?
WHY?????

HOW????
098

What is my title?
"Utopia in Malaysia: How new architecture influences local culture of Orang Asal"

What is it all about? Who are the people affected?
Orang Asal are the indigenous people, or the original people of Malaysia, or any part of the world. In Malaysia itself, has so many different 'races' of Orang Asal, like the Penans, Semelai, Kenyahs, and those in Sabah and Sarawaks such as Bidayuh, Dusun, Kadazan and many more. They were the original people who stays in Malaysia long before the Chinese and Indians came to Malaya. They stayed in jungle, caves, or build houses themselves in rural area based on the technology, material and knowledge of construction during that time. Then, Malaysia started to develop more and more, some of the orang asal were forced to move out from their home to make way for the new development, either in agriculture or urban development.

What is the problem of new development and effect to the Orang Asal?
losing their culture; physically, economically, and the most socially. Indigenous people has their own strong culture within their community. With the new development, they have to adapt to new surroundings, new people, new facilities and new HOME. HOME? for them, some of them, HOME to them is staying together and have actitivities under a roof. i mean A ROOF. They eat, they sleep and have activities within the same area. Now? just like modern houses with designated spaces for cook, for sleep, for eat and other activities became their new 'Home' this wasn't what they were staying or maybe what they call HOME. OK maybe not. They're not adjusted to the new environment. Not that they're uncivilized, just 360 degree changes to them. Many organizations, governments or privates, thought that by building new houses for the Orang Asal could help them as a humanity cause but its such a big change in a short period of time, they can't accept it.
Moreover, their original vernacular architecture which has the identity of the Orang Asal are diminishing soon as the new development are more modernized.
Example the Sarawak's long houses. Those are the proud identity of the Ibans, Bidayuhs, Penans, Melanaus and other races. When new development arrived and forcing the indigenous people to move out from their land, their vernacular houses, their sense of belonging and their cultural identity are diminishing. New housing development are modernize with new technology and materials, are unfamiliar to the Orang Asli.

Purely my own opinions. Yet to go to 'kai kai' to the indigenous peoples' homes and other related places.