Tijah Yok Chopil
Orang Asli Misinformed about Vaccinations
On March 7, the Malaysian news website Free Malaysia Today published a report (summarized here on March 19) analyzing the reactions of the different Orang Asli societies to the COVID-19 vaccines. Three months later, FMT updated their coverage of the same subject by providing new information. The journalist identifies some of the people interviewed with […]
Semai Criticize New Government
Tijah Yok Chopil, a prominent Semai leader, gave a speech on Tuesday last week in which she castigated the one-year-old Pakatan Harapan government of Malaysia for continuing to ignore the rights of the Orang Asli. An article on May 28 in the Malay Mail reviewed her charges. Tijah said that the Orang Asli were quite […]
Semai Foods Help Keep the Peace
The fact that the Semai cherish the foods they prepare from the forest was the topic of a Malaysian TV program and, last week, a brief newspaper article. According to the newspaper report in The Star, chef and TV host Nurilkarim Razha, in his documentary series “The Local Kitchen,” showed viewers an obscure forest fruit […]
Semai Communal Lands Threatened
Malaysia’s Orang Asli believe that life must be based on nature in order to properly satisfy human needs, according to Anthony Williams-Hunt, a Semai lawyer. An article last week argued that, for the Orang Asli, the forest is their workplace, their shopping mall, their cultural provider, their playground, the source of their utilities, and the […]
Semai Woman Earns Prestigious Malaysian Award
A prominent Semai woman was honored last week in Kuala Lumpur with an award that recognizes her outstanding service to unite and empower the Orang Asli indigenous people. The Fraser and Neave Out-Do Yourself Awards were given to six Malaysians, or groups, that had displayed heroism or other acts of selfless service to the nation—actions […]
Malaysian Politics and the Rights of the Orang Asli
A Malaysian news source last week indicated that the Semai of Perak State are worried about recent political developments that may signal a return to governmental persecution. On February 5, Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir, from the Barisan Nasional, or BN (National Front) party, was sworn in as the Menteri Besar, the Chief Minister of Perak […]
Constitutional Guarantees in Malaysia for the Orang Asli
A national conference of Malaysian lawyers listened to arguments about the constitutional rights of the Orang Asli last week and, to judge by reports, they were enlightened, challenged, and amused. The printed program of the 14th Malaysian Law Conference, held from October 29 through 31 in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, indicated that the convention […]
Semai Protest a Botanical Garden
Authorities in Perak State recently sent bulldozers into an ancient rain forest near a Semai community in northern Malaysia to clear land for a proposed National Botanical Garden. The Semai protested. An Orang Asli group living in the kampong (village) of Chang Sungai Gepai, northern Perak, they number about 600 people in one account and […]
