Orang Asli talks in Akiya's tuntut

Abstract

The discourse of knowledge on the Orang Asli arguably, is largely and effectively determined by the state. According to Colin Nicholas (2000:108), the state 'maintains a notion that the Orang Asli need to be managed and developed according to its criteria'. There is no doubt that it may have been an effective 'system of control' for the Orang Asli have made many notable achievements especially in education, civil administration, economics and even politics. Positive representation of Orang Asli highlights them as beneficiaries of integration and development policies, which allows them to enjoy the same quality of life as the mainstream society. However, such hegemonic discourse may soon be challenged when Orang Asli construct narratives of their identities to 'talk back' to the dominant Other. The publication of Tuntut (2001) by Akiya marks an important development for the identity of the Orang Asli's community for reasons that will be discussed in this paper. The meaning of Tuntut is 'to reclaim' and immediately implicates ideological reading in the anthology. In literary practice, Tuntut has become the medium for Orang Asli 'voices' to reach out beyond their 'silent' settlements, as it were, to a culturally diverse Malaysian readership. There is the tendency to take the identities of the Orang Asli for granted. Also, the Orang Asli seems to be sustained in our social memory as one of our 'dormant' and 'distant' relations. This paper proposes that the narratives are critical in order for the Orang Asli to make an authentic articulation of their identities. It is claimed that Akiya has judiciously coordinated these narratives in order to resist the temptation of totalisation against their identities.