paragraph 5:: the hope and frail of Kanaq Indigenous People

Hello there, i've just finished my professional practice paper. Today i would like to share in detail design proposal of landscape resource planning studio. My detail area is located in one of indigenous village in Kota Tinggi Distrct in the region of Johore, Malaysia. I was one of students among my peers who visited the site since we all have big scale to be covered in the Kota Tinggi District.

Let me brief you a bit of this indigenous people tribe, the tribe name is Orang Asli Kanaq. Kanaq Tribe are one of the Proto-Malays tribes. They are coming from the Riau Archipelagos and sub divided under Proto-Malay The Proto-Malays live among the Strait of Malacca and in Southern Johore. Some have been absorbed into the Malay community. Recently there are only 90 of population of Kanaq people in this whole world..hmm can u imagine how degrade the population now? Up until today, there are only 60 left and this tribes now facing extinction due to the reliant to governmental subsidy. The Orang Kanaq are one of the nineteen Orang Asli people groups living in Peninsular Malaysia. They come under the Aboriginal Malay (known officially as Proto-Malay) subgroup. Originally from Pulau Sekanak in the Riau Islands of Indonesia, they were forcefully removed from their homeland when the Johor Sultanate needed to supplement its forest-collection labor force during mid-19th century. They are the smallest ethnic group among the entire Malaysian population and also the smallest of all Orang Asli tribes. They are considered one of the country earliest inhabitants though they have been living on the Peninsula for only about 200 years. A small settlement is located in a village called Selangi in the state of Johor.

What are their lives like?

In the past, they were slave-workers tapping trees in the rubber plantations. Today, they lag behind in modern technology and education. They are still working as hard labourers in shrub and rubber plantations. In addition, the Orang Kanaq gather forest produce (such as rattan and fruits). They also fish in the rivers and hunt small animals in the forest with arrows and blowpipes.

The Orang Kanaq in Selangi live in standard Orang Asli (JHEOA) wooden stilt houses”a small version of a rural Malay house developed by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs for all the Orang Asli. Prefabricated from wooden timbers and planks, the house is a rectangular structure on short posts with a veranda at the front, one or two living or sleeping rooms, and a kitchen in the back. It is difficult for the close-knitted Orang Kanaq community to be separated because they avoid marrying outsiders. They believe that such unions will bring curses upon their tribe. Low birthrates have caused their numbers to dwindle over the years.

So based on my concern in the field of Landscape Architecture with the sense of cultural landscape, this Kanaq people live in very poor condition and they failed to survive the tribes due to the Johore Governmental Policies whom sent them in the middle of Oil Palm Plantation which located far away from the river (their origin). I was told during the interview with the tok batin that they used to settle along the river and bear on fruit and marine life previously. They were tremendously poor and suffered to survive because they have lost their sense of place (spirit of the tribes) as well as losing their practice of culture due to the place they settle nowadays. Here are some of the images that i want to share during the interview that i've done with my peeps which is Emmily Dessy Roipin and Nursyafikah Salehan.

 

The entrance to Kanaq Indigenous Village at Kampung Sungai Selangi

The Recent House Condition

Kanaq Indigenous Child

Emmily and Syafikah meeting the Kanaq Indigenous Girl

Kanaq Kids playing in the plantation

We are about to do the interview with the Tok Batin (Head of Tribe) we identified few major problems that cause the degradation of population among Kanaq Tribe, in the rapidly developing Malaysian society, the Orang Kanaq face the impending threat of relocation and loss of income due to compulsory mainstreaming. More worrisome is that they are very few in number and are fast disappearing as a people group of the Orang Asli. One difficulty is that they are interested in neither education nor technology. They do not have interest in economic growth and the survival on nearby forest have been decrease because there are lot of plantation been stressed in this area.

Poor and poverty of life because they failed to sustain the life as they rely on governmental subsidy

Poorly maintain of house because the house is not support the lifestyle of Kanaq Tribe.

Interview with representative of Kanaq People. The old ladies is the oldest in Kanaq People today.

So as what i've study with the concern of humanity and sustainable culture, i think it is my responsibility to give a hand helping the Kanaq People by proposing a self-sustaining community village. Here i show you my design proposal particularly for this indigenous village.

Theme: Self-sustaining community. Concept: Green Reliant Remote Village.

The management and phasing plan which include the recommendation of design proposal and intervention from local authority.

Detail Area Plan

Supporting Detail which include sections and sketches.

Design program of proposal.

I think that's all for now. The design proposal have been presented and evaluated with my lecturers and Majlis Daerah Kota Tinggi (local authority). I've try my best to increase the awareness and problems arose in this proposal, and I do really hope that the design project could be implemented as to ensure the Kanaq Tribe would survive by their own and sustain their culture.

I am having another paper to be answered tomorrow, hope this writing would be a warm up for my english exam tomorrow.