IN WHAT seemed like an attempt to appease angry and horrified Orang Asli communities who opposed a planned construction of the Nenggeri hydro-electric dam in Gua Musang, Kelantan, Tenaga Nasional (TN) general manager for Kelantan and Terengganu Mustaphakamal Yaakob reportedly stated that the electric utility company would build a mini gallery in which salvaged indigenous cultural artefacts from the affected areas would be collected and displayed for public viewing.

The RM5 billion project, which is expected to cater to the renewable energy needs of Peninsular Malaysians beginning 2027, would span across 18 villages and affect about 1,185 residents because parts of their ancestral land would then be submerged in water.

Mustaphakamal added that his company plans to preserve artefacts and archaeological materials that may be found in 13 cave areas around the project site.

However, it is feared that the seeming generosity of the company to preserve the Orang Asli’s cultural objects to compensate for the loss, no destruction, of their ancestral land, lived traditions and livelihoods may tempt others, such as developers, to exploit this strategy to pursue their own vested interests.  

In other words, it might make displacement of indigenous communities shrewdly creative as a result.

The Orang Asli as a collective have had their ancestral land being encroached on by outsiders many times in the past in Kelantan and elsewhere in the peninsula.

Indeed, the static preservation in a small gallery of the indigenous cultures in this manner is a poor substitute to cultures that should be lived and enjoyed and evolve over time.

If anything, such an initiative can be perceived, rightly or wrongly, as mere tokenism that is aimed to give a feel-good impulse among the Orang Asli affected by such displacement.

That is why the Orang Asli have good reason to be concerned about the gigantic project that would eventually inundate a large part of their ancestral land and impact the sustenance of their cultural traditions and livelihoods, especially when they are defined by the land they inhabit and roam.

Furthermore, they should have the right to self-determination, as a people in a democratic society.

Similarly, people outside of the indigenous communities are equally concerned as they fear for the latter’s traditions and sustainable existence as well as environmental degradation that would contribute to climate change in the long run, much to the chagrin of Energy and Natural Resources Minister Takiyuddin Hassan, who takes exception to the concern and involvement of “outsiders”.

As stakeholders, the Orang Asli communities concerned should be consulted before any project is drawn up and implemented so that they are well informed of the consequences and not impacted adversely or unfairly.

To displace the Orang Asli from their own land is as bad as uprooting, say, a self-sustaining fishing community to make way for so-called development. It is in such a context that these communities are often negatively cast as anti-development elements.

If having a gallery is indeed felt necessary under certain circumstances, it is hoped that care and respect for the Orang Asli artefacts as well as their traditions and beliefs would guide the managing of the outfit, particularly when it involves culturally sensitive objects.

The proposed gallery is obviously more than a mere collection or repository of artefacts and archaeological finds. It should be a viewpoint of the indigenous communities concerned.

Without proper care and adequate knowledge of indigenous traditions, as shown by the experience of certain countries, the indigenous cultures that are displayed in galleries and museums can be misrepresented and misunderstood, and be unjust to the indigenous communities.

In particular, the transferring of cultural artefacts from the original location to the gallery clearly involves a process of decontextualisation, as they are finally kept in an alien and cold, brick-and-mortar room.

An object that is considered sacred, for instance, would need to be carefully placed in relation to certain other objects so that the arrangement comes close to what it was in the original setting and at the same time preserves as much as possible its embedded meaning.

Inappropriate physical arrangements of artefacts can create misunderstanding, if not sacrilege.

Given such cultural complexities, it is imperative that the Orang Asli communities themselves play a major role in helping to manage the gallery in order to avoid unwarranted cultural distortions that would hurt the collective dignity of the communities.

The Orang Asli is a living collective and culture, and should be treated as such. – June 16, 2022.