Malaysia and the original people

Malaysia and the “Original People”

Neglecting aboriginal groups has been a common theme in the past when considering the advancement of developing countries. The United States had little to no regard for the Native Americans when developing a new nation. And now as Malaysia is a quickly developing country, we can see the effects of this development on its natives. Some of the world’s leading anthropologists who have been studying the “original people” of Malaysia for twenty-five years, have successfully written an in-depth explanation of the political struggle involving the Malaysian government and the Orang Asli’s. The oppression of non-represented ethnicities is the main conflict in this case study of Malaysia, entitled Malaysia and the “Original People”. The authors have produced a work that not only examines the group itself but also the past, present, and future of all social classes that reside within the countries borders. The book exceeded all expectations in the quantity as well as quality of information pertaining to the Orang Asli’s. Although there was little expression of the opinions of the actual tribes, the book was affected little due to the outstanding structure and content of the book.

The strongest feature this book is its structure. The authors have created a book whose structure and word use makes it easy for most readers to comprehend. From the beginning the reader will learn that the whole motivation behind this book was to educate people of the affects of development on indigenous peoples around the world. “…how development and government programs in a developing country can affect indigenous peoples.” (Dentan, Endicott, Gomes, Hooker, p. ix) The reader should already know from the Forward and the Preface that the authors’ platform leans in favor of the Orang Asli. “We hope that once fair-minded people -in Malaysia and elsewhere-know about Orang Asli and their problems, they will want to help them.” (Dentan, Endicott, Gomes, Hooker, p. x) These “introduction” sections are an example of how the superb structuring of the case study. These sections are essential in the reading and comprehending the arguments made by the authors.

After a broad overview of the situation and people involved, the authors start to break down the effects of development on each specific tribe in the Orang Asli. Once again we see the strength of this book, structure, as the tribes are each given its own section. This is very effective in helping the reader gradually understand the struggle each tribe has encountered.