Saturday, August 18, 2012

Melayu Orang Asli


Many Malays don't know that they have various Orang Asli blood in their ancestry. I know and I am proud of my Semai roots. The Semai are a tribe of the Senoi sub-group, one of three aboriginal sub-groups in the Malay Peninsula, the others being the Negrito and Melayu Asli (Aboriginal or Pure Malay). The fact that we all still distinctively exist in Malaysia right into the 21st century shows how peaceful our land and the people are.




Here I'm with my ancient cousin Woh up in the Brinchang Highlands (our original name for the Cameron Highlands - "berincang" means 'very windy' ;-) and later at night I'll wear my own cawat loin-cloth and we'll reminisce our oral stories of the ancient antediluvian Benua Mu that are part of pre-historic Malayan folklore - the lost Continent of Mu that sank in the Great Floods and gave rise to the legend of Atlantis. Ah, we Malays, Orang Asli and Bumiputra or Pribumi (in Indonesia) folk have many forgotten stories.