Semai
More Power for a Semai Village
A Malaysian university is installing an innovative hydro power project that will provide a sustainable supply of electricity to a remote Semai village in the Cameron Highlands. Harian Metro, a Malaysian newspaper, sent a reporter into the village to see the installation and report on the village of Pos Lemoi that will benefit from it. […]
Altruistic Values of the Orang Asli
An anthropologist who has studied the Orang Asli for 40 years advises Malaysians to expose themselves more effectively to their lifestyles and cultures in order to better understand them. Professor Alberto Gomes argues that societies such as the Semai, Batek, and Chewong are not respected as they should be by the broader population of Malaysians—the […]
New Semai Houses
A number of Malaysian volunteers, guided by a team of researchers, built a group of four prototype houses for some Semai families that combined traditional forest products with modern construction materials and techniques. A journalist, accompanied by several of the university researchers guiding the project, took a trip by motorcycle along rough forest paths to […]
Semai on Display
The Orang Asli Crafts Museum in Kuala Lumpur recently featured the cultures and the history of the Semai and the Mah Meri societies of Malaysia in a special, two-day event. According to an article last week in The Star, a Malaysian newspaper, visitors learned about the traditional beliefs, tools, and clothing of the two Orang […]
Visitors to a Semai Village
A group of Malaysian university students recently spent a couple days in a Semai village in Pahang State in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the indigenous society. The Star, a prominent newspaper in Malaysia, published a brief news story about the adventure. The Semai village of Kampung Pos Buntu, in the Raub […]
Orang Asli Lake Pollution
The Semai and Jakun people living in several villages around Malaysia’s Chini Lake have had to cope in recent decades with the effects of ever increasing pollution in the water. The Orang Asli people living near the lake, located in the southern part of Malaysia’s Pahang State, have found that the increasing amount of pollution […]
Changes in Semai Society
While the Semai usually retreat from conflicts and violence, one man who has developed a successful business has also gained renown for his willingness to fight. The New Straits Times featured the story of John Bah Tuin last week, his popular inn, and his fight with a gang of robbers. Mr. Tuin developed and runs […]
Preserving the Semai Language [conference paper review]
The languages spoken by the Orang Asli of Malaysia preserve their wisdom, social concepts, environmental knowledge, and, for some, their beliefs about peacefulness.
Semai Win Land Rights in Malaysian Court
The Semai have won an important land rights victory in a Malaysian state court. A news story last Thursday reported that the High Court in Ipoh, the capital city of Perak State, agreed on Wednesday, September 30, with the Semai claim that their native tribal rights to their tanah adat (customary lands) did exist under […]
Orang Asli Land Rights
Last week, The Star from Malaysia published a news story about the rights to forest lands claimed by the Semai and the other Orang Asli societies in that country. The indigenous peoples believe that they have the right to communal ownership of the forested lands on which they have traditionally hunted, fished, gathered produce, practiced […]
