Language vitality among the Orang Asli of Malaysia: the case of the Mah Meri on Telo’ Gunjeng (Carey Island, Selangor)

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (244) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Coluzzi ◽  
Patricia Nora Riget ◽  
Wang Xiaomei
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
The State ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
Orang Asli ◽  
General Terms ◽  
High Degree

AbstractAfter a general introduction to the aboriginals of Peninsular Malaysia, the so-called Orang Asli, this article introduces the ethnic group upon which the research focused: the Mah Meri, a Senoi group living in the state of Selangor, not far from Kuala Lumpur. The research is based on a survey on language use and attitudes carried out in four different Mah Meri villages on Carey Island. The results are then analysed in general terms and compared with those provided by similar research carried out among the Bidayuh, a Dayak ethnic group in Borneo, showing a rather high degree of vitality for the Mah Meri language, even though lower than in the case of the Bidayuh. In contrast, when the answers given by the younger speakers of the language are compared with those provided by older speakers, a pattern of slow but steady ongoing language shift clearly emerges. The article closes with some general considerations on the state of linguistic and cultural endangerment Orang Asli are facing, including further comparisons between the results of this research and those of another study conducted in a different Mah Meri village and some suggestions on possible revitalization strategies. The evidence seems to show a relatively high degree of endangerment for the languages spoken by the Orang Asli in general, and for the Mah Meri in particular.

Pluralism in Terrace Housing Community Through Ethnic Garden

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismail Said
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
Plant Selection ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Relationship Of

Landskap warisan adalah simbol peradaban dan nilai kepercayaan sesuatu kumpulan etnik dalam satu komuniti. Ia dibentuk oleh ilham dan daya usaha manusia yang menunjukkan perkaitan erat antara kelakuan manusia dengan alam lingkungannya. Landskap ini amat bermakna kepada komuniti rumah teres di Semenanjung Malaysia yang dikomposisi oleh berbilang etnik termasuk Melayu, Cina dan India. Kertas kerja ini membincang peranan landskap warisan kepada komuniti rumah teres yang secara langsung dan tidak langsung mengintegrasi penduduk dan menyumbang rasa kekitaan terhadap komuniti. Ciri–ciri landskap warisan yang diperjelaskan dalam laman–laman etnik rumah teres adalah komposisi tanaman dan pilihan tumbuhan dan aksesori laman. Persamaan dan perbedaan ciri–ciri tersebut menonjolkan bentuk laman sesuatu etnik yang harus diambil kira dalam perancangan landskap komuniti rumah teres. Cultural–ethnic landscape symbolizes the belief and cultural values of an ethnic group living in a community. The landscape is an expression of people´s idea and work, illustrating intrinsic understanding and relationship of people to their fellow beings and environment. Such landscape is significant to the human community development and more challenging to establish it in a multi–ethnic society such as terrace house neighborhood in Peninsular Malaysia than in homogenous society. This paper discusses the role of ethnic gardens created by terrace housing residents towards integration and sense of belonging to their living neighborhood. The making of the residential gardens by Malays, Chinese and Indians are influenced by both cultural values and functional needs. There are few similarities and differences in planting composition, plant selection and garden accessories that reflect the strength of ethnicity and yet allow sharing of garden produce and create a sense of place for the community. This pluralism can be seen as positive phenomena to harmonize multi–ethnic society living in terrace housing neighborhoods in Peninsular Malaysia.

scholarly journals Ethnicity, Indigeneity and Indigenous Rights: The ‘Orang Asli’ Experience

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yogeswaran Subramaniam
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
The State ◽  
Orang Asli ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Statutory Protection ◽  
United Nations Declaration ◽  
The Impact

<em>Orang Asli, the Indigenous minority of Peninsular Malaysia, continue to face formidable challenges in realizing their rights as distinct Indigenous peoples despite being ascribed a measure of constitutional and statutory protection. With reference the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and various international definitions of ‘Indigenous peoples’, this paper examines the impact of the term ‘Orang Asli’ on the Orang Asli struggle for the recognition of their rights as Indigenous Peoples. The term ‘Orang Asli’, an officially-constructed term to describe heterogeneous groups of people considered to be ‘aboriginal’, has since gained acceptance by the people categorized as such and has been used to advocate their rights as Indigenous peoples with relative success. However, the term carries legal implications which continue to place Orang Asli ethnicity and identity under the protection and equally, the control of the state. The extensive legal powers possessed by the state are arguably inconsistent of international norms on Indigenos rights and can additionally function as a tool to deny Orang Asli their attendant rights as Indigenous peoples. More importantly, the continued existence of these powers potentially functions to reinforce existing domestic challenges that Orang Asli face in finding their rightful place as distinct Indigenous peoples in the light of: (1) competing notions of Indigeneity vis-à-vis ethnic Malays; (2) historical discrimination against Orang Asli that continues to persist; and (3) Indigenous rights being construed as a possible hindrance to national economic prosperity. A possible starting point for the reconciliation of these matters may be to legally clarify the term ‘Orang Asli’ in a manner that sustains and respects the Orang Asli community as distinct Indigenous peoples while not threatening the existing special constitutional position afforded to ethnic Malays.</em>

scholarly journals THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES ACT 1954 AND THE RECOGNITION OF ORANG ASLI LAND RIGHTS

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izawati Wook
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Orang Asli ◽  
Prevailing View ◽  
At Will

The prevailing view about the Orang Asli’s occupation of land and access to forest resources are that they are ‘privileges’ extended by the states or at the governments’ discretion. It is widely believed that the Orang Asli live on the State land as tenant-at-will. This paper proposes to examine the position of the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 (Act 153) (the APA) and trace its historical background. It takes both historical and doctrinal approaches in the legal research methodology. Situated within this historical background, the principle that developed from it and the position of the laws, the paper argues that under the principle of respect to the rights of the existing inhabitants, the law recognizes the rights of the Orang Asli to their land and resources that arose from their custom and practice. The APA establishes a framework to recognize and protect these rights. There is no legal basis for the perception that the Orang Asli live on the State land on the benevolence of the State. Keywords: Legal history; Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954; Indigenous peoples; Orang Asli; Peninsular Malaysia.

On the Marketness of Markets and Actor Clout: Market-shaping Roles

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 170-184
Author(s):  
Suvi Nenonen ◽  
Kaj Storbacka
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Market Maker ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
Market Evolution ◽  
Network Position ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Market Shaping

In reconnecting marketing to more plastic and malleable markets, we need more understanding about market evolution. In this research we explore how to assess the state of a market, and how the roles of a market-shaping actor vary depending on this state. We view markets as configurations of 25 interdependent elements and argue that well-functioning markets have a high degree of configurational fit between elements. The level of configurational fit describes the state of a market as a continuum from low to high marketness. The clout of a market actor to influence a market configuration is an amalgamation of the actor’s capabilities, network position and relative power. By exploring marketness and clout as contextual contingencies, we identify four market-shaping roles: market maker, market activist, market champion, and market complementor. The focus of a market-shaping actor, in terms of which elements to influence and in which order, vary significantly between roles.

The Inscriptions on the Gravestones in the Croatian Villages of Slovakia, Chunovo and Jarovce: The Specificity of Mixing Graphics Systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 159-173
Author(s):  
Darya Yu. Vashchenko
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Funerary Monuments ◽  
Traditional Spelling ◽  
The Family ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The Village

The article discusses the inscriptions on funerary monuments from the Croatian villages of Cunovo and Jarovce, located in the South of Slovakia, near Bratislava. These inscriptions reflect the complicated sociocultural situation in the region, which is particularly specific due to the fact that this territory was included to Slovakia’s territory only after 1946, while earlier the village was part of Hungary. In addition, the local Croatian ethnic group was actively in close contact with the German and Hungarian communities. At the same time, the orthographic norms of the literary Croatian, German, Hungarian, and Slovak languages, which could potentially be owned by the authors of the inscriptions, differ in many ways, despite the Latin alphabet used on all the gravestones. All this is reflected in the tombstones, representing a high degree of mixing codes. The article identifies the main types of fusion on the monuments: separate orthograms, writing the maiden name of the deceased in the spelling of her native language, the traditional spelling of the family name. In addition, the mixing of codes can be associated with writing feminitives, also order of name and surname within the anthroponym. Moreover, the settlements themselves represent different ethnic groups coexistence within the village. Gravestones from the respective cemeteries also differ from each other in the nature of the prevailing trend of the mixing codes. In Jarovce, where the ethnic groups live compactly, fusion is often presented as a separate foreign language orthograms. In Cunovo, where the ethnic groups constitute a global conglomerate, more traditional presents for a specific family spelling of the names on the monument.

OWNERSHIP IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA AND THE STATE AS THE HOLDER OF THE PROPERTY RIGHT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION IN 1991

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1993-2005
Author(s):  
Shemsije Demiri ◽  
Rudina Kaja
Keyword(s):  
Legal Aspect ◽  
State Ownership ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
State Function ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Republic

This paper deals with the right to property in general terms from its source in Roman law, which is the starting point for all subsequent legal systems. As a result of this, the acquisition of property rights is handled from the historical point of view, with the inclusion of various local and international literature and studies, as well as the legal aspect devoted to the respective civil codes of the states cited in the paper.Due to such socio-economic developments, state ownership and its ownership function have changed. The state function as owner of property also changed in Macedonia's property law.The new constitutional sequence of the Republic of Macedonia since 1991 became privately owned as a dominant form of ownership, however, state ownership also exists.This process of transforming social property into state or private (dissolves), in Macedonia starts from Yugoslavia through privatization, return and denationalization measures, on which basis laws on privatization have been adopted. Because of this, there will be particularly intensive negotiations regaring the remaining state assets.

When decentralisation undermines representation: ethnic exclusion and state ownership in DR Congo's new provinces

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-157
Author(s):  
Alma Bezares Calderon ◽  
Pierre Englebert ◽  
Lisa Jené
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
State Ownership ◽  
The State ◽  
Dr Congo ◽  
Ethnic Representation ◽  
Ethnic Exclusion

AbstractAfrican regimes commonly use strategies of balanced ethnic representation to build support. Decentralisation reforms, often promoted in order to improve political representation and state access, can undermine such strategies. In this article we use the example of the DR Congo to show the extent to which the multiplication of decentralised provinces is upending a political system largely based until now upon collective ethnic representation in the state. Not only are Congo's new provinces more ethnically homogeneous than their predecessors, but many of them have also witnessed political takeover and monopolisation by the province's dominant ethnic group. In addition, the increased number of Congolese who now find themselves non-autochthonous to their province of residence heightens their vulnerability and the potential for local conflict. Decentralisation, whose intent was proximity to governance, might well end up excluding more Congolese from the benefits of political representation. The article uses original empirical evidence on provincial ethnic distributions to support its claims.

The Elusive Search for Evidence: Evgenii Khaldei’s Budapest Ghetto, Images of Rape, and Soviet Holocaust Photography

Slavic Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-89
Author(s):  
David Shneer
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Social History ◽  
The State ◽  
World War ◽  
Soviet Jews ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

I began studying Soviet photography in the early 2000s. To be more specific, I began studying Soviet photographers, most of whom had “Jewish” written on their internal passports, as I sought to understand how it was possible that a large number of photographers creating images of World War II were members of an ethnic group that was soon to be persecuted by the highest levels of the state. I ended up uncovering the social history of Soviet Jews and their relationship to photography, as I also explored how their training in the 1920s and 1930s shaped the photographs they took during World War II.

From the Margins to Centre Stage: ‘Indian’ Demonstration Effects in Malaysia’s Political Landscape

Urban Studies ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1257-1278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Bunnell ◽  
S. Nagarajan ◽  
Andrew Willford
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
National Scale ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Racial Differentiation

This paper traces senses of injustice among Indian Malaysians which found expression in the ‘illegal’ Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur in 2007. While underlying ethnic and racial differentiation has been rendered through law in the post-colonial nation-state, the focus here is on a specific locality: resettlement flats for Indians displaced for the construction of Malaysia’s federal government administrative centre, Putrajaya. Ex-plantation workers are shown to be symbolically peripheral (to the spectacular ‘national landscape’ of Putrajaya) and to have experienced everyday forms of ethnicised marginalisation. The rally in the commercial heart of Kuala Lumpur—involving tens of thousands of Indian Malaysians from across peninsular Malaysia—mobilised what were previously largely localised grievances such as those associated with the Putrajaya estate evictions. It is shown how this ethnic transgression not only contests the ‘second-class’ position of Indians in Malaysia, but may also contribute to a redrawing of the ethnic contours of Malaysia’s legal and political landscape. More broadly, the Hindraf events also serve as a reminder that rights and social justice claims expressed in key urban centres continue to have important national-scale dimensions, even in an ostensibly neo-liberalised global economy.

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