Malaysia’s Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli ed. by Kirk Endicott

Abstract

Reviewed by: Malaysia’s Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli ed. by Kirk Endicott Barbara Watson Andaya Malaysia’s Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli Kirk Endicott (ed.) + Singapore. NUS Press, 2016. i–xiii; 536 pp. maps, tables, illustrations. ISBN 978-9971-69-861-4 This impressive collection is fittingly dedicated to two pioneers in the development of Orang Asli studies—Robert Denton and Geoffrey Benjamin. As editor, Kirk Endicott (himself highly respected in this field) has assembled an exceptional group of contributors, all of whom bring specialized knowledge to the project. The book is distinguished by its inclusion of scholars of various backgrounds and different generations, including some who have retired from the field but whose essays remind us of the cumulative changes experienced by the current generation of Orang Asli. Its chronological depth and research coverage mean that Malaysia’s Original People should be of interest beyond Malaysia and Southeast Asia, since its insights are highly relevant to the situations of indigenous minorities in other world areas. This truly interdisciplinary collection begins with a substantial introduction by Endicott, which establishes a necessary context by listing Malaysia’s Orang Asli groups and by providing a brief overview of their languages, economies, social organization and religious beliefs. He then surveys the book’s structure, providing a background for each section. Part 1, dealing with the study of the Orang Asli, includes contributions by Duncan Holaday, Signe Howell and Sandra Khor Manickam. Field work by Holaday among the Jar Hut of Pahang and by Howell among the Chewong stretches back over thirty years, and their overview of past research highlights the changes that have occurred within Orang Asli society, such as the unsettling concept of personal property. Manickam tracks the [End Page 152] history of efforts to group Orang Asli through blood group typologies, but ends with the caveat that DNA results are still popularly interpreted in terms of older classifications emphasising racial hierarchies. Endicott’s introduction is a helpful entrée to Part 2, where an ordinary reader may need help in grasping the import of technical terminology. Nonetheless, based on the results of DNA testing and archaeological discoveries in the northern peninsula, their conclusions are quite clear. Alan Fix challenges the commonly held view that the Orang Asli developed as isolated societies, while David Bulbeck argues for a transition from rock-shelters to hamlets around 6500 BP. His chapter provides a transition to Baer’s discussion of early indigenous technologies. In her view, such technologies incorporated not just stone tools, but also objects made from rattans and bamboos. Objects that would have been used in early times, such as fish traps and blowpipes, are still essential items in the ‘tool kits’ of contemporary Orang Asli. We then move on to Part 3, which consists of a single but intriguing chapter by the linguists Niclas Burenhult and Nicole Kruspe, who use Aslian languages as a departure point for analysing the ‘semantic distinctions’ in vocabularies connected with eating. They found that verbs are encoded in terms of the categorization of ‘ingested matter’ as well as the manner in which this matter is ingested. In proposing what they see as an ‘Aslian pattern’, they detected both patterns of exchange among Aslian language groups while also identifying distinct differences. Part 4 concentrates on Orang Asli religions, with contributions by Rosemary Gianno and Peter Laird, who have been involved in Orang Asli studies for several decades. Both focus on healing and on the trance-journeys undertaken by shamans in their communication with the spirit world. Gianno looks particularly at the B-blayan among the Semelai, drawing on ethnographic material stemming from her fieldwork in the 1980s, and from a ‘cosmological map’ configured by her informant. Laird began his fieldwork among the Temoq in 1973, and has since made much of his material available in film and audio recordings. His chapter is enriched by descriptions of the sung poetry and drumming rhythms that are so central to the healing rituals associated with the shaman’s visionary journey. The final contribution in this section is co-authored by Juli Edo (one of the few Orang Asli to have...