World’s Indigenous Peoples Day

This photo was taken this time last year at Ulu Tual village’s Hari Orang Asal Sedunia’ World’s Indigenous Peoples Day celebration hosted by the Orang Asli of the Semai community.

During the day, in the unforgiving heat and humidity, the younger ones took part in a self-organised Sports Day. Pictured, Semai children racing up a slippery wooden pole, generously wiped down with cooking oil.

Part of their day’s programme included a show-and-tell section, which proudly displayed foraged items from the jungle, communal cooking and eating; and a ‘sewang’ ritual at night, which would have traditionally been led by a shaman.

(Note: most of the villagers we spoke to have converted to mainstream religions like Christianity, and thus carry out the sewang as part of respect for their ancestors’ traditions and way of life. However, this also varies between villages and ethnic groups.)

In December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly first recognised August 9 as the international world’s indigenous peoples’ day. This year’s theme draws attention to the preservation of endangered indigenous languages.

The UN estimates “every two weeks, an indigenous language disappears.”

Excerpt taken from the @unitednations‘ website:

“There are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across 90 countries. They make up less than 5 per cent of the world’s population, but account for 15 per cent of the poorest. They speak an overwhelming majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures…

…..despite their cultural differences, indigenous peoples from around the world share common problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.”

More information on the international world’s indigenous peoples’ day and its focus for 2019 on the UN website. 

Thank you to everyone at Kampung Ulu Tual who openly shared their invaluable knowledge of the forest and its gifts, their time, space, food and memories with us.

Special thanks to the Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) for letting us tag along and for entertaining our requests and curiosity to observe when the magazine was still just a dream. For current and on-the-ground updates, events and forums regarding the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, follow COAC’s Facebook page.