Orang Asli

As an international student I am really fascinated and interested in Orang Asli as in my country we don't  have such concept. Orang Asli are also known as "original people", "natural people" or "aboriginal people". They are the natve people of peninsular Malaysia. Officially, there are 18 Orang Asli tribes, categorized under three main groups according to their different languages and customs:

•  Semang (or Negrito), generally confined to the northern portion of the peninsula
•  Senoi, residing in the central region
•  Proto-Malay (or Aboriginal Malay), in the southern region.

Nowadays there about 60.000 Orang Asli people, of which 60% still live in the rain forest. About 40% Orang Asli live along or near the coast. Each has its own language and culture, and perceives itself as different from the others.The Orang Asli, who live in the jungle, hunt with blowpipes for birds and little monkeys. The blowpipe is made from bamboo. The mouth piece is made from damar, a resin obtained from the dipterocarp trees. Darts are made from the split leaf-stalks of Arenga palm cone is made of light weight pitch and the tip is coated with a lethal preparation made from the sap of the lpol tree (Antiaris toxicaria) and carried in a carefully closed bamboo tube. As for the windage, a soft fluffy "wool' is made from as kind of bark. Blowpipe is deadly accurate within 20 meters.
Fear of the spirits of dead ancestors and hunted animals is very strong amongst them, and it is an unwritten law that all animals caught, in the forest should suffer no pain.

They are a form of minority in Malaysia. The name is a Malay term which transliterates as 'original peoples' or 'first peoples.' When it comes to religion before Orang Asli were anmsts but after 21st century many concerted to Islam and Christianity. About 70 per cent practise traditional animist religions, about 10 per cent are Christian and 15–20 per cent Muslim, though the percentage of Orang Asli who are Muslim has been steadily increasing in more recent years, especially among the Proto-Malay. The dressing of Orang asli is very different as we can see in pictures. We can see that they are not very modern or advance and still live like to live like old times. The orang asli don't live a luxurious life.