The Orang Asli (literally original or first peoples) consists of three main groups, namely the Negrito, Senoi and Aboriginal-Malay. Of the 134,000 Orang Asli in the peninsular today, 88.7 percent live in the interior and forest fringe areas. Not surprisingly, therefore, the Orang Asli communities consider themselves to be a part of the natural environment and link their identity to this environment.

The Orang Asli subscribe to three basic principles in their use and control of resources. One is the collective ownership of resources within a village, which they see as analogous to cak sama k, the Semai term for 'eating together'. Sharing of the harvest be it vegetables, hunted game or harvested fish with one's neighbour is the norm, although individual rights apply to agricultural produce, handicrafts and reared animals.

The second principle is based on the concept that all natural resources belong to the Creator and thus one has to have respect for natural resources, including the plants and animals. Ceremonies such as cenagoh where permission is first sought from the friendly spirits before any land is opened for agriculture are a form of respect.

Thirdly, land and the biodiversity within it is intrinsic to the Orang Asli's identity. For this reason, the elders in the community take it upon themselves to ensure that traditional conservation and management practices of the resource base are passed down through the generations.

Resource management practices

One important practice is the zoning of the nenggrik or village area into 11 areas based on traditional use. These zones are for settlement, sacred sites, pathways/natural watercourses, hunting areas, fishing areas, forest areas for collecting products for commercial purposes, forest areas for collecting products for domestic use, commercial agriculture areas, home gardens, orchards and watershed areas. These areas are managed strictly according to customary law or ada t.

Another important practice revolves around hill paddy cultivation, especially in the way field sites are selected and care is taken to ensure that soil fertility is restored over time so that the whole activity can be rotated with minimum erosion. Orang Asli communities are also careful to ensure that resources are not depleted. They practice controlled harvesting by taking only what is needed by the family or community. This also applies to hunting and gathering of food and materials from the surroundings.

A major problem is the non-recognition by outsiders of Orang Asli rights to their traditional land. Eventhough Orang Asli are categorised as bumiputera ('sons of the soil', or indigenous peoples, together with the dominant Malay population and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak), their land rights are not recognised under the Aboriginal Peoples Act (1954). Without such recognition, the sustained control, access and management of the land's biodiversity and, it follows, the protection of traditional knowledge, are endangered.

Another cause of both land and cultural loss is attributed to development policies that differ from the Orang Asli perspectives. Development programmes for the Orang Asli that resettle communities often lead to inferior economic, social and cultural conditions. This isolation from traditional

lands and resources, in particular, leads to severe loss of knowledge of biodiversity and of the indigenous management system. The imposition of mainstream religions and the policy of modern resource management, which are in conflict with traditional resource management systems, are also identified as causes of such loss.

The Orang Asli reiterated that they are not against development per se but maintain that such development must be appropriate and in accordance with their needs and culture. Programmes and policies aimed at changing their culture and way of life to one that is devoid of indigenous culture, identity, values and knowledge are not acceptable.

The article is from Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Malaysia , a recently released book edited by Colin Nicholas/Jannie Lasimbang.