Orang Asli- BY GABRIELLA (Mauve)

Food

Tapioca

Tapioca is a starch made from the roots of the cassava plant

Tapioca is a food with only carbohydrate food value.

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Sayur meranti

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Sayur meranti is a wild crop grown where land has been cleared for farming

Ayam masak buluh

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Ayam masak buluh is fowl(a bit like a chicken, hen) cooked in bamboo

First, they marinate the fowl with salt, chilli and tumeric (a spice). Then, they stuff it in bamboo and roast it over fire.

Other

There are 150, 000 Orang Asli spread across Malaysia

Names

Orang Asli translates to Original People in Malaysian- Orang means people and Asli means original.

The former names for Orang Asli are 'sakai', meaning slave, and 'semang', a disrespectful phrase.

Languages

Orang Asli speak a range of languages like:

Thai. Spoken by the Central Thai people and a vast majority of the Chinese Thai people, many Orang Asli people know it too.

Aslian languages, which are a range of languages spoken on the Malay Peninsula. This is most likely to be majority of Orang Asli's mother language.

Malay. Malay is the national language of Malaysia and Orang Asli are expected to know it.

Folklore and Religion

Majority of the Orang Asli are animist: People who believe all natural things (including thunder) influence human events.

Unlike other major religions, there is no written book for Animism (like for Christians, it's the Bible)

Clothes

Skirts, pants and shirts are made of natural materials like tree bark, rattan (thin stems of a palm)

The skirt of the Negrito women is made of tree bark.

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Traditionally, children 0-5 years were naked but now, they wear clothes no matter the age.

Lots of people wear headbands as a sign of significance.

The men wear loinclothes (one piece clothes) and are called 'chawat' and are made of tree bark. They wear belts and have pockets to carry things like knives and tobacco.

Now, most Orang Asli wear Western-style clothing.

Women wear sarongs (long skirts) made of cotton

Men wear trousers and while going hunting, will wear a shirt.

There are 21 tribal groups

Negrito (Northeast Kedah)

Kensiu (Kedah-Perak Border)

Kintak (Northeast Perak and West Kelantan)

Jahai (North Ventral Perak)

Lanoh (Southeast Kelantan)

Mendriq (Northeast Pahang and South Kelantan)

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Semai (Northwest Pahang and South Perak)

Temiar (North Perak and South Kelantan)

Jah Hut (Central Pahang)

Chewong (Central Pahang)

Mah Meri (Coastal Selangor)

Semop Beri (South Central Pahang)

Jakun (South Pahang and North Johor)

Orang Kanaq (East Johor)

Orang Seletar (West and South Coasts of Johor)

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