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. :)