Here I was listening to a very old woman who died in 1999 singing about the forgotten forest songs and tales of the Temuan people. I could bet most of you don't even know who are the Temuan. You would know them as Orang Asli, the Indigenous People, a convenient group label to destroy the identities of individual ethnicities. Malaysians largely don't bother with them. And the Government continues to rob them of their lands and basic human rights.
Woe are they, truly. A friend told me he partook in a missionary trip to a native village long time ago, and felt sorry for them living in primitive ways. And told me bringing the news of Christ to them is not bad. And here was Minah Angong, affectionately called Mak Minah, singing to her death in despair about her culture's erosion.
It makes her songs the more heart-wrenching. She was a very warm and friendly woman. One immediately conjures up the vision of a good grandmotherly figure reading the obituaries and articles about her. I'm simply glad to have heard her songs. The silent and invisible were made vocal by Mak Minah.
Her songs are proofs of the existence of a belief system in the Temuan. Why are such wrongness made upon them by every level of Malaysian society? There are people who quickly assume they have no beliefs or notion of religion at all. Another friend answered that because they are not educated, thus unable to make decisions for themselves. Islam and Xtianity were forced upon them. Sometimes in the guise of economic and political deliverance from their socalled societal limbo. Could they not think they are happy as they are?
"No. They cannot make decisions for themselves," the educated nationalist would say. They are not expected to understand the concepts of economic policies, national development and Vision 2020. They are promised compensations but forcibly relocated for hydroelectric dams to be built and trees to be lumbered. Even though the last tribe relocated decades ago were not compensated yet.
Outright robbery in governmental levels. And they say crime is hard to fight when the criminals are only taking the highest as example.
1 comment:
You're a real sweetie, Tommy. Thanks for blogging on behalf of Mak Minah and her tribe! Come and visit sometime OK? :-)
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