These are 137 people who did not understand Malaysian at the time of their conversion to Islam. In government plans and censuses, they were associated with the Muslim community. The case has rekindled attention on the orangasli, an aboriginal community that continues to be marginalized in some areas. The enrollment of children in their schools is declining.
Kuala Lumpur () – The case of the alleged forced conversion of a small tribal community in the Malaysian state of Pahang has revived attention on the orang asli. These are minority ethnic groups that are sometimes associated with the Muslim community and labeled as converts to Islam in government plans and censuses, even when they are not. There are 137 people who denounced a mass conversion in Pahang, which took place in April 1993. They are members of the ethnic group bateq mayahof animistic beliefs, who intend to recover their original identity through a civil action.
According to the lawyers in charge of their legal protection, these people were deceived at the time of their conversion, since they did not understand the language. Many years later – when some learned to read Malaysian – they realized their condition, in violation of the Aboriginal Peoples Act of 1954, which is intended to protect their traditions and protect indigenous people from exploitation and discrimination.
The development department of the Orang Asli (JAKOA, for its acronym in Malaysia), the Council of Islamic, Religious and Malay Traditions of Pahang, the local government and the federal government have been called to testify for their joint responsibility in the matter, in which other groups of the same area.
The reality is that the debate on the orang asli It has been open for some time and politics also plays an important role, sometimes in favor of their integration (because they represent a pool of votes) or, on the contrary, aimed at promoting their diversity.
The consequences of the partial integration of aboriginal peoples can be seen above all in the field of education: among the students who should start secondary education, the percentage of orang asli it dropped from 20% to 17% in 2016, reaching between 13% and 15% just two years later, and also marking a negative trend in the following years. The development department of the Orang Asli confirmed that in the 99 specific schools in these groups, including 97 elementary schools, of the 3,200 students enrolled in the first year, only 2,062 reached the fifth grade in 2021, with a dropout rate of 42%. The situation of native youth studying in public schools is better, with 27,326 and 12,980 primary and secondary students respectively.
The harassment suffered by members of aboriginal communities explains, in part, this phenomenon. To curb this worrying trend, a project has been launched that seeks to include teachers from Aboriginal groups and initiatives to motivate students to stay in school. However, at the level of employment, income and opportunities, the reality of orang asli it also deals with many critical issues. As for integration, according to experts, it remains crucial to spread community knowledge among Malaysians, for example, by including proper information on history and culture subjects and courses.
