Jahai people

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Jahai people
Jehai
Suku Jahai (12478358795).jpg
A Jahai community in Royal Belum State Park, Perak, Malaysia.
Regions with significant populations
Malay Peninsula:
Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia (Perak and Kelantan)2,326 (2010) [1]
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 200 [2]
Languages
Jahai language, Malay language
Religion
Ethnic religion (predominantly), Islam, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Batek people, Lanoh people, Maniq people

The Jahai or Jehai people are an indigenous people (Orang Asli) of the Semang people group found in Perak and Kelantan, Malaysia and parts of Thailand. They have dark skin, often curly-hair and Asiatic facial characteristics, and are stockily built. [3] They are hunter-gatherers and they occasionally practice swidden agriculture . [4]

The Jahai people believe in a religious system with Karei (pronounced "Karεy") as a supernatural force that oversees their actions and behaviours. In order to avoid attracting Karei's attention negatively, there are taboos and avoidance rules to follow. They believe Karei can be scared away or attracted to by various odors depending on Karei's preferences, for example, the unpleasant smell of a burnt crayfish. [5] Therefore this led to a rich odor lexicon in the Jahai language, [5] a trait also shared among the Maniq people in Thailand. [6]

The Jahai people, who are traditionally nomadic, were forced by the government to live in permanent settlements in parts of the Royal Belum State Park as part of the tourist attraction. They lived in isolation, lacking infrastructure such as roads, schools, health services, and so on. [7] This resulted in exhaustion of resources. The mortality rate of the Jahai people in villages along the Kejar River was as high as 50% in children due to Serawan , which caused the population there to dwindle from 600 to 400. [8] [9]

Geographical location of Jahai people (located in Perak near the Kelantan borders) and other Orang Asli communities in Peninsular Malaysia. Geographical location of Orang Asli communities recruited in the study.jpg
Geographical location of Jahai people (located in Perak near the Kelantan borders) and other Orang Asli communities in Peninsular Malaysia.

The population dynamics of the Jahai people in Malaysia are as the following:-

Year1960 [10] 1965 [10] 1969 [10] 1974 [10] 1980 [10] 1993 [11] 1996 [10] 2000 [12] 2003 [12] 2004 [13] 2010 [1]
Population6215467027697401,0491,0491,2441,8431,8432,326

Other settlements of the Jahai people in Malaysia are:-

Related Research Articles

Semang Indigenous ethnic group in Malaysia and Thailand

The Semang are an ethnic-minority group of the Malay Peninsula. They are found in mountainous and isolated forest regions of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah of Malaysia and the southern provinces of Thailand.

Orang Asli Indigenous ethnic group of Malaysia

Orang Asli are a heterogeneous indigenous population forming a national minority in Malaysia. They are the oldest inhabitants of Peninsular Malaysia.

Jakun people Group of indigenous people of Malaysia

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Semai people

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Mah Meri people

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Senoi Indigenous ethnic group of Malaysia

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Temiar people

The Temiar are a Senoic group indigenous to the Malay peninsula and one of the largest of the eighteen Orang Asli groups of Malaysia. They reside mainly within Perak, Pahang and Kelantan states. The total ethnic population is estimated at around 32,000, most of which live on the fringes of the rainforest, while a small number have been urbanised.

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Amani Williams-Hunt bin Abdullah, is a notable indigenous Malaysian social activist, and politician who campaigned for most of his life seeking greater social justice, land rights, and improved life opportunities for Aboriginal Malaysians in Peninsular Malaysia. He is fondly known as Bah Tony amongst the Orang Asli communities throughout the country, is very active in Orang Asli advocacy and was President of Persatuan Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia from 1987 to 1991.

Kelantanese Malay people

Kelantanese Malays are a sub-ethnic group of Malays native to the state of Kelantan, Malaysia as well as in Northern Terengganu. The Kelantanese Malays are closely related to Thai Malays and Terengganuan Malays in neighbouring Terengganu, these two Malay sub-ethnic groups shared historical, cultural and linguistic as well as kinship ties with the Kelantanese Malays. Kelantanese Malays forms 94% of Kelantan's population, which makes them the largest ethnic group in Kelantan and around 150,000 in Besut, Terengganu.

Jah Hut people Ethnic group of Malaysia

Jah Hut people are one of the Orang Asli tribes living in Pahang, Malaysia. As of 2000, the population of the Jah Hut people are 2,442 and by 2005, it is estimated that there are approximately 4,000 people living in 11 kampungs (villages) that are located along the west bank of the Pahang River from the north in Jerantut to the south in Temerloh, Pahang.

Semelai people Ethnic group of Malaysia

Semelai people are an Orang Asli people of the Proto-Malay people group found in Negeri Sembilan and Pahang states of Malaysia.

Temoq people belong to the Proto-Malay of the Orang Asli ethnic group that are found in Pahang, Malaysia.

Semaq Beri or Semoq Beri people are the native Orang Asli people belonging to the Senoi branch, who live in the states of Pahang and Terengganu in peninsular Malaysia. The Semaq Beri language is a language spoken by the people, is an Austroasiatic language that belongs to the Southern grouping of the branch of Aslian languages.

Cheq Wong people Group of indigenous people of Malaysia

Cheq Wong people are an indigenous Orang Asli people of the Senoi branch in Peninsular Malaysia. Although they have the physical appearance of the Senoi sub-group, the Cheq Wong language that they speak is closely related to the Northern Aslian languages.

References

  1. 1 2 Kirk Endicott (2015). Malaysia's Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli. NUS Press. p. 3. ISBN   978-99-716-9861-4.
  2. ↑ "Jehai in Thailand". Joshua Project. Retrieved 2017-07-11.
  3. ↑ Helen Oon (2008). Malaysia. New Holland Publishers. pp. 55–56. ISBN   978-18-453-7971-1.
  4. ↑ Douglas Richardson (2017). International Encyclopedia of Geography, 15 Volume Set: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 2240. ISBN   978-04-706-5963-2.
  5. 1 2 Catherine Diederich (2015). Sensory Adjectives in the Discourse of Food: A frame-semantic approach to language and perception. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 23. ISBN   978-90-272-6880-8.
  6. ↑ Ed Yong (6 November 2015). "Why Do Most Languages Have So Few Words for Smells?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-07-11.
  7. ↑ "Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Human Capital and Knowledge Management" (PDF). ICHCKM. 2015. p. 168. Retrieved 2017-07-11.
  8. ↑ Shanjeev Reddy (16 February 2016). "The Curse of Serawan". R.AGE. Retrieved 2017-07-11.
  9. ↑ "Situation of the right to health of indigenous peoples in Asia". Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 2017-07-11.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nobuta Toshihiro (2009). "Living On The Periphery: Development and Islamization Among Orang Asli in Malaysia" (PDF). Center for Orang Asli Concerns. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  11. ↑ Colin Nicholas (2000). The Orang Asli and the Contest for Resources. Indigenous Politics, Development and Identity in Peninsular Malaysia (PDF). Center for Orang Asli Concerns & International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. ISBN   978-87-90730-15-4 . Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  12. 1 2 "Basic Data / Statistics". Center for Orang Asli Concerns. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  13. ↑ Alberto Gomes (2004). Modernity and Malaysia: Settling the Menraq Forest Nomads. Routledge. ISBN   978-11-341-0076-7.
  14. ↑ Ronzi Mohd Yusoff, Joy Jacqueline Pereira, Sharina Abdul Halim, Hood Salleh & Mustaffa Omar. "Kemudahterancaman Perubahan Iklim: Kajian kes Komuniti Jahai di RPS Air Banun, Perak" (PDF). Institut Alam Sekitar dan Pembangunan (LESTARI). Retrieved 2017-07-11.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ Dony Adriansyah, Ibrahim Busu, Hafzan Eva & Mohammad Muqtada (15 May 2015). "Geoheritage As The Basis For Geotourism Development: A Case Study In Jeli District, Kelantan, Malaysia" (PDF). GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites: 35. ISSN   2065-0817 . Retrieved 2017-07-11.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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