Have you heard of the Jakun people or Orang Hulu, meaning, “People of the Upriver” of Malaysia? In standard Malay, the name “jakun” carries the meaning “slave” or unsophisticated person.
Orang Hulu are an ethnic group recognised as Orang Asli (indigenous people) of the Malay Peninsula in Malaysia. They are part of the Aboriginal Malay (officially called Proto-Malay) subgroup.
For the last 7000 years, they are mostly located in the southern region of Malaysia, in the interior of the southwest Pahang and north Johor, and their villages are located near the jungle, and their population of 32,000 people are more or less dependent on jungle resources.
So what has happened to the Jakun tribes today?
Since my last visit into the Muadzam Shah regions with a non-profit Global Peace Foundation Malaysia, I started to ask this question again, ‘Why are these humans, Malaysian tribes, still living within such unhealthy conditions, their ancestral lands taken away by corporations, discriminated by the government, their rights ignored for a hundred years, fathers loosing farms, mothers with skin infections, drinking from polluted water, no cultural education for their children, no more rivers or proper source of livelihood.
It felt like they are just forgotten or left out of our growing educated society.
Some friends I’ve spoke to said, “I didn’t even know there were Orang Asli (tribes) living in Muadzam Shah area.” Another who have visited them a few years ago said, “It felt like walking into a refugee village in Africa or Somalia, I didn’t expect such bad and horrific conditions in Malaysia, a developed country of tall twin towers.”
What do you think really happened to them? What do you think we can do to make life better for them?
I’ll be sharing more of their lives and stories in the coming weeks via “Project Jakun“. Here are portraits of the parents I’ve met while visiting and knowing a little more about them. With the support of Global Peace Foundation, Malaysia, who are partners and friends, I hope to create more awareness about the Jakun Tribe culture, their stories, documenting life within the villages and supporting in coming social aid projects.
Please share the story with your thoughts or to spread the awareness. Join the Give Light community to support this photo documentary project.
(Muadzam Shah | Pahang)
