The Temuan people (Temuan: Uwang/Eang Temuan, Malaysian: Orang Temuan) are a Proto-Malay ethnic group indigenous to western parts of Peninsular Malaysia. They can be found in the states of Selangor, Pahang, Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca. The Temuans are classified as part of Orang Asli group according to the Malaysian government. They are also one of the largest (only smaller in population in comparison to the Semai people and Jakun people) and the most widespread of the Orang Asli ethnic groups.
Outwardly, the Temuan people; like the other Proto-Malays, are virtually indistinguishable from the Malays themselves. They have straight hair and light brown skin, but strong individual variations are found among the Temuan people. Their average height is approximately 153 cm for men and 142 cm for women. Culturally, the Malays and the Proto-Malays are also closely related.
They speak Temuan, an Austronesian language closely related to Malay.
Demographics
The Temuan people can be found in almost every state of Peninsular Malaysia, but most of them still live in the countryside and suburban villages of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, as well as Pahang and Melaka. Usually these villages consist of purely Temuan people. Traditionally, the Temuans were forest dwellers. However, with the implementation economic development programmes, relocation of individuals of Orang Asli communities to new villages are often in suburban areas by the government. In urban areas, the Temuan people live alongside other ethnic groups.
The dynamics in the population of the Temuan people in Malaysia:- Year 1960 1965 1969 1974 1980 1991 1993 1996 2000 2003 2004 2008 2010 Population 5,241 7,221 8,631 8,698 9,449 15,057 16,020 16,020 18,560 22,162 21,512 22,700 19,343
Population distribution of the Temuan people by state (1996, JHEOA census):- State Temuan Total of Orang Asli Percentage of Temuan Selangor 7,107 10,472 67.9% Negeri Sembilan 4,691 6,188 75.8% Pahang 2,741 33,741 8.1% Melaka 818 831 98.4% Johor 663 7,379 9.0% Total 16,020 92,529 18.0%
Despite the government's efforts to modernize the indigenous way of living, the Orang Asli are still a marginalized people of the country's population. Literacy rates among the indigenous stood at 43% in 1991, compared with 86% nationally at that time. The average life expectancy of an Orang Asli person is 53 years, and the poverty rate was 76.9%, with 35.2% is considered very poor ("hardcore poor").
Language The Temuans speak the Malay language as well as their own language called the Temuan language or Bahasak Temuan. It is distinct but closely related to the Malay language spoken by their Malay neighbours. The Temuan language belongs to the Malay group of the Malayo-Polynesian languages and is very close to standard Malay language. It is often considered as one of the Malay dialects. Interestingly, the Temuan language is closer to standard Malay than the dialect of the Minangkabau language, a colloquial language of the Malay people in Negeri Sembilan, who settled alongside the Temuan people.
It is essentially a spoken language with several dialectal variation. Temuan is divided into two major dialects namely Belandas and Mantra which differs mostly in terms of phonology and also some of the vocabulary but still mutually intelligible to one another. Example of Temuan Belandas dialect: diak (he/she), hajak (only), kitak (we), tai (the end of sentence particle). Example of Temuan Mantra dialect: dien (he/she), hajen (only), kiten (we), tea (the end of sentence particle).
Traditionally, the Temuan people do not have their own written language. Temuan is mostly written in the Latin alphabet although no standard orthography has been made. Asyik FM, Malaysia's national radio broadcasts daily in the Temuan language. The medium of education of the Temuans is conducted in Malay.
History
It is believed that the Proto-Malays arrived on the Malay Peninsula by sea in about 2,000 BC. By the 5th century AD, the Orang Asli were already suppliers of jungle products in international trade networks.
The popular folk history of the Temuan people with many variations tells of two brothers who participated in the gathering of earthly tribes in "times of grace, when men understood the language of animals." On the way home, a storm broke and overturned their ship. Abang (older brother) managed to grab his blowgun before the ship sank in the stormy waves, and swam ashore. Adik (the younger brother) managed to save only the sacred scroll, but that was enough to take precedence over Abang. Abang remained hunter-gatherers and Adik, with newly acquired knowledge, could institutionalized religion and write new laws for people to live by.
In the 11th century, the territory of the Malay Peninsula came under the rule of the Malay Kingdom of Srivijaya with its center in Palembang (South Sumatra). After the defeat of Srivijaya by the Javanese Majapahit in the 13th century, the latter took power over the peninsula. At the end of the 14th century, the Malays who came from Sumatra, established trading settlements on the coast. Among them was the Malacca Sultanate kingdom, which soon became the leading state in the region. After the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese Empire, the Malay rulers moved to Johor. A key moment in the history of the peninsula was the adoption of Islam by the Sultan of Malacca in the early 15th century.
During the time of the emergence of the Malays, the Temuan community lived in the modern state of Negeri Sembilan and its neighbouring areas. The basis of their economic activity was the cultivation of irrigated rice. Local peasants used sophisticated field irrigation techniques. The land belonged to the local communities that was led by a batin, the village head. At same time, the Temuan people already had their own political structures or proto-state formations. The Malays refer to the natives as Jakuns, Biduanda, Mantras, Orang Bukit or Sakais.
Eventually, the Malay population spread gradually to the interior. In Negeri Sembilan, these migrants consisted mainly of the Minangkabau people from West Sumatra. Colonizing new lands, they form agreements with the local batins. Through the means of mixed marriages, the Minangkabau gained the right to inherit power. On the Negeri Sembilan territory, Minangkabau principalities emerge as the ruling dynasties of which derived their roots from the local batins. The ancient history of the region is preserved in oral traditions, which were passed down from generation to generation. The people of Negeri Sembilan knew that they first under the subjugation of the Majapahit rulers, followed by the Sultan of Malacca, and its successive, the Johor Sultanate.
There was an active integration of Minangkabau migrants and local residents such as Jakun, Temuan into a single ethnic group (Biduanda), now known as the Malays of Negeri Sembilan. By adopting Islam, the Temuans became Malays. But not all indigenous people have embraced the new religion. Groups that decided to remain pagans were forced to retreat to the mountainous jungle areas and change their way of living. They began to live by hunting and gathering jungle products, and cultivating fallow farmland. These indigenous groups became the minority that rejected assimilation.
During the British Malaya colonial period, the Bedouin Muslims were already considered Malays, and indigenous groups of Temuan people began to be counted among the aborigines (obsolete official name for Orang Asli). The aborigines were defined as primitive people in need of paternalistic care. Orang Asli was noticed only during the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960), when it turned out that most of them supported the communist insurgents, consisting of mostly ethnic Chinese. The Chinese had close contacts with the aborigines, in particular, among the Temuan people as there were many people of mixed Sino-Temuan blood. In order to remove the Orang Asli from the influence of the Communists, the government resorted to relocating indigenous communities to the territories it controlled. The result of this invasive action was the death of about a third of the displaced due to unsanitary living conditions and psychological stress. Realizing their mistakes, the government changed its methods. The Orang Asli were then placed under total control, and their villages were turned into forts under the protection of soldiers, which were also provided with shops and medical facilities. It was the special Department of Aboriginal Affairs' responsibility to look after the communities of indigenous people. Among the aborigines were formed the Senoi Praaq, a paramilitary unit to fight the Communists. Temuan people were also included into the unit.
After the declaration of Independence of Malaysia and the Malayan Emergency, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs was renamed to Department of Orang Asli (Jabatan Orang Asli in Malay, JOA) and at present, the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli in Malay, JAKOA). This department is authorized to resolve all issues in the Orang Asli communities, depriving them of any autonomy.
Malaysia's rapid economic development, which began in the 1970s, required land and natural resources. The government, often with the participation of JHEOA, has increasingly encroached on Orang Asli lands, frequently ignoring their rights, which are not always legislated. Invasion by individuals, corporations and the government into areas inhabited by the Orang Asli became more frequent since the mid-1980s and gained widespread in the 1990s. These processes have mostly affected the Temuan people, whose traditional lands are located in the heart of Peninsular Malaysia, near the capital. Communities in the development zone were relocated to other areas. Some villages, such as in Bukit Lanjan, were relocated several times. In the new places, the government provided the natives with housing, land, basic infrastructure, collective ownership of plantation were given, as well as compensation for the loss of traditional land were paid. Conflict situations often occurred. Sometimes Temuan communities took legal action for the violation their rights. In 2002, the Supreme Court ordered the Selangor state government to pay compensation to the Temuan community of Kampung Bukit Tampoi through the loss of their customary land, which was part of a highway construction.
Economy The main occupations of the Temuan people are agriculture and forestry. The main food crop is rice. Three varieties of wet rice are grown (masuri, pulut and malinja), the whole crop is used for own consumption. However, buying rice from stores are still necessary as many families do not get sufficient rice from their fields. Rubber and other commodity crops are also grown. Most Orang Asli have collectively owned rubber, palm oil or cocoa plantations. The sale of rubber provides most of the cash income for these people. They also sell some jungle produce (durian, petai, rattan, bamboo), which are harvested from the jungle. In addition to rice, they also buy tobacco, clothes and other luxury items.
The main economic aggregate of the Temuan people is similar to the Malays. To some extent, these neighboring communities are competitors, and for this reason hostility do exists between them. In the past, there were fights and acts of violence between them. Despite this situation, the Temuans do trade with the Malays.