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Traditional economic activity is one of the important elements in the Orang Asli community's way of life to secure food for a living and at the same time sustaining their customs and belief systems. However, as the global economy is revolving and becoming money-based economy, the Orang Asli community is facing a great threat. Hence, this study aims to observe the Orang Asli especially the Semelai and Semai communities' traditional economic activity and challenges in sustaining their traditional activities. Therefore, the data collection method used is survey and in-depth interview. This study finds that both Semelai and Semai community practices the same economic activity which is cash-crop economic activity and self-sufficiency. Both subgroups do have few similarities and also differences in values and belief system especially involving the traditional agriculture activity. In fact, they are at risk of food insecurity. Hence, this paper highlights the importance of preserving the traditional economic activity so the community able to gain equal access to food supplies and reclaim their rights as Orang Asli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic that hit not only Malaysia but the whole world has affected the lives of all the world's population, including the indigenous population. This is because COVID-19 has caused a humanitarian crisis when restrictions imposed to control the spread of the virus have impacted society's economic and social sectors. Therefore, this situation causes various challenges that all community leaders, including leaders among the Orang Asli, must carry out during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores the experiences and challenges faced by the chairpersons of the Orang Asli Village Development and Security Committee (JPKKOA) when carrying out their responsibilities as village leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative approach was employed to gather data from nine (9) Temuan female JPKKOA chairpersons using a purposive sampling method. Data was generated from in-depth interviews with the Temuan JPKKOA chairpersons based on semi-structured questions. The analysis data found three (3) challenges they faced during the pandemic, namely changes in village administration and management, weak village administration synergy, and the need to face community concerns related to the issue of COVID-19. These difficulties are critical in translating a circumstance that has never occurred before among the Orang Asli people. Therefore, it is hoped that the study’s findings can contribute to new knowledge about the leadership challenges of Orang Asli women JPKKOA chairpersons during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this situation report, we discuss the response of the Orang Asli, the aboriginal people of Peninsular Malaysia, to COVID-19, focusing specifically on the community's actions to protect themselves from the coronavirus during the government-imposed lockdown. Drawing from an Indigenous understanding of illness and health, the Orang Asli took the threat of the pandemic seriously and responded with proactive steps to keep their community safe, which included setting up barricades and checkpoints to control movement into their villages, performing health maintenance rituals and prayers and retreating into the forest. We argue that the Orang Asli's response mitigated the spread of the virus into their villages. Their adaptation and resilience emphasize the need to respect their traditional knowledge and way of life, as well as the importance of strengthening the Orang Asli's control over their traditional territories and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By examining two villages in Pos Iskandar, Tasek Bera, the article shows that Semelai have a sense of grouping based on consanguinity, where parents, married children and siblings live in proximity, which traditionally formed a kampong (village). This contributes to the resilience of the communal land tenure system. Today, however, land is seen as property and this has led to its informal inclusion in the Semelai concept of pesakak manah (inheritance). While Semelai try to maintain their living arrangements, individual and inherited property rights in land are emerging. Land remains deeply embedded in kin-based relationships, but the legitimacy of land rights is predominantly grounded in law and legislation rather than in the customary norms of kinship and communal land tenure that is based on relationality. The moral underpinnings of land rights should, therefore, be anchored in a relational perspective that draws from kinship and the communal land tenure system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article represents our collective reflexivity in the process of applying an Indigenous methodology in a North--South, cross-cultural collaboration, funded through the British Government's Global Challenges Research Fund. The projects' aim was to bring together Bribri and Jakun leaders (from Costa Rica and Malaysia) for constructive dialogues about sustainable development. Specifically, we applied ulàpeitök (traditional form of Bribri collaboration and translates to lend [peitök] a hand), a concept of collaboration that honours family and community; we also used S-kõ'pàkö, the Bribri word for conversation, a concept that translates to feeling the space around each other together. We analyse successes and challenges and elaborate on lessons learned including (a) how and why Indigenous collaboration and reciprocity should be understood before a project is planned or financed, (b) why western academic concepts of reciprocity (such as one-to-one exchanges) need to be decolonized to include Indigenous ways of relating to others, and (c) paying special attention to language in the co-writing of publications to avoid cultural misrepresentation. Our research can inform other North/South, Indigenous/non-Indigenous collaborations that aim to contribute to decolonizing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]