Call it what you will, incentives, rewards or just a helping hand, Malaysia's indigenous people are flooded with offers of help. But just as the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and these offers are certainly not 'no strings attached'...
They come from a whole host of missionaries, and allegedly, from the government too. All you have to do to get the carrot is convert. If the government had it their way, to Islam, in an attempt to make Malays out of the Orang Asli community. But Christian and Baha'i missionaries are just as keen to have them join their clan.
That's not all though. Talking about indigenous issues (whether it be the right to self determination, land loss, status, aid), is forbidden in public. Just what is the government trying to hide? Maybe it's the fact that they are seeking to 'eradicate the category of aboriginal peoples in Malaysia' or the prohibition on 'converting to other religions, thus curtailing their religious freedoms.' [See the Indigenous Peoples' Movements' article 'The Orang Asli of Malaysia for more information'].
Last week a group of Th!nk3-ers travelled to Malaysia. During our time there we visited the Mah Meri community.
In this short video, I examine the ongoing claims that the Orang Asli are coming under increasing pressure to convert. Living in poverty, many are left with a choice between religious freedom or a better life…
[Apologies for the limited footage, my flip camera lasted just five minutes in the humidity of the mid-day sun, so this was filmed on a digital camera].
Ahhh this is horrible! It is just what happened to indigenous people in Mexico and Latin America some centuries ago…
It is awful - but great piece!
Love this!
This is such an interesting topic Lara! Makes me so angry how someone could actually blackmail people into converting or “converting”!
And sorry for my hand there in the video - I didn’t see you were filming while we were walking, I would have moved..
What is it with humans that they always want to force people into thinking their way?
Nice documentary - would have liked to see more!
Thanks, would really have loved to film more, and talk to the community more too.
For more on this, there is a very interesting Al Jazeera report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U47j2dS6C_I
thanks for sharing this reality.. it’s really sad! Actually, I have just read an interesting similar article concerning this issue, it is in Italian but I believe worth to be shared with you: http://www.corriere.it/cronache/10_agosto_29/hostess-infiltrata-gheddafi-la-stella_4c2a6afe-b39f-11df-ac3b-00144f02aabe.shtml
Great video Lara. Interesting topic and brilliant editing and montage. One can’t really tell you had such short footage. Well done! I linked to it in my post:
http://development.thinkaboutit.eu/think3/post/malaysia_the_eastern_version_of_a_rainbow_nation/
Hi Lara,
Wish you had more time to ‘talk’ to the women as they would have given you first-hand accounts of their faith and challenges to that faith.
For more information on the conversion situation, here’s a link to an article posted on the Nut Graph, via the website of the Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC):
http://coac.org.my/codenavia/portals/coacv2/code/main/main_art.php?parentID=0&artID=12734895488906
@Reita, we were all wishing we had more time to talk to the women…
This is a very interesting post, thank you very much!!
I just wrote about human rights and religion and about baha’is on my blog.
http://development.thinkaboutit.eu/think3/post/why_the_bahais_are_persecuted_in_iran
@ Reita, many thanks for your help, and for the link to more information. We would have loved to have stayed longer with the women.
@everyone, I have been doing more reading on the topic and found that it’s happening to indigenous peoples all over the world. If you find more links/stories, please do share them, thank you!