STAMPS: Lifestyles Of The Aboriginal People( ISSUE 27/09/2010)

Lifestyles of the Aboriginal People In Malaysia.

Malaysia’s indigenous communities represent a small but important part of the nation’s multi-racial milieu. These communities are disproportionately spread out between the small and frequently isolated communities found in the peninsular and the Malaysia Borneo states of Sarawak and Sabah, where they make up 50 to 60 per cent of the respective states populations.

The ‘Orang Asli’ are made up of nearly a hundred different ethnic sub-groups. These include around twenty in peninsular Malaysia although administratively they are categorized as Negrito, Senoi and Aboriginal Malay. Sabah and Sarawak, on the other hand, has between thirty to forty distinct sub-groups each with an even more amazing number of languages and dialects.

The Department of Orang Asli Affairs or JHEOA is entrusted with the care and administration of the indigenous communities. Its mandate includes the eradication of poverty, improvement of health, promoting education and improving their general livelihoods and where possible and desired, their integration with mainstream Malaysia society.