- 5 months ago
- #proudsakai
- #considerthis
The term “Sakai” has resurfaced in public debate after being used to insult Cameron Highlands MP Ramli Nor. Rights groups have condemned the comment as hate speech and demanded the term be abolished. But an Orang Asli student association is pushing back, warning that erasing the word from official use could threaten legal protections tied to indigenous land rights and identity. Instead, they’re campaigning to reclaim the term through the #ProudSakai movement. Can “Sakai” be reclaimed as a symbol of pride? Or should it be erased from our vocabulary altogether? On this episode of #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Dr Kamal Solhaimi Fadzil, Head of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, at Universiti Malaya. He’s also the Head of UM’s Centre for Malaysia Pribumi Studies.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and good evening. I'm Melissa Idris. Welcome to Consider This. This is the show
00:15where we want you to consider and then reconsider what you know of the news of the day. The term
00:20Sakai has resurfaced in public debate after being used to insult a senior orang asli politician.
00:27Now, rights groups have condemned the comment as hate speech and demanded that the term be abolished.
00:35But an orang asli student association is pushing back against this, warning that erasing the word
00:41from official use and local vernacular could threaten legal protections tied to indigenous
00:48land rights and identity. So instead, they're campaigning to reclaim the term through the
00:54hashtag Proud Sakai campaign. Now, the question we're asking tonight is, can a slur be reclaimed
01:01as a symbol of pride or should it be erased from our vocabulary altogether? Joining me on the show
01:08today to discuss this further is Dr. Kamal Solhaimi Fadel, who is head of the Department of Anthropology
01:14and Sociology at University of Malaya. He's also the head of UM's Centre for Pribumi Studies,
01:22for Malaysia Pribumi Studies. Kamal, thank you so much for joining me on the show today. Let's delve deeper
01:29into understanding the use of the term Sakai. It sparked a lot of debate over its interpretation
01:37and perceived derogatory meaning. So how could you maybe walk us through a little bit about the
01:42historical context of this term and how it's understood today?
01:46Okay. Hi, I'm Lisa. Thank you for inviting me on your show today. Although this is quite a difficult
01:56topic to speak on, I think historically or how we kind of understand the historical use of the term Sakai
02:05is that it exists in colonial records and definitely in reference to some of the orang
02:12asli groups in the peninsula. Apparently it is also used in Sarawak among some of the indigenous groups
02:20there and also in the region. But I think the focus should be on the peninsula and in the peninsula
02:29among the orang asli, the colonial of the colonial reference to it was mostly for the
02:36semi-Esenoy and the proto-Malay groups if I'm not mistaken and I stand corrected on that.
02:44And so yes, you do find the words in colonial records. However, with the introduction of the
02:52Aboriginal People's Act in 1955, again I stand corrected, I don't memorize these things.
02:58Thanks. The term Sakai was dropped and replaced with the more official term
03:06orang asli as we know it today or Aboriginal as the act is referred to, the Aboriginal People's Act 134.
03:16Yes, and the shift was because there was a recognition, a general recognition that the term
03:21is derogatory. It is not a positive term for many from the various communities,
03:30the orang asli communities. I think it is also important to recognize that orang asli is not a heterogeneous,
03:35it's not a homogeneous group rather that it is heterogeneous and they do have different historical
03:41experiences with their experiences with the term and therefore have different levels of sensitivity to
03:46the use of the term. Okay, just so that I understand better, Sakai is not a tribe or
03:56do any indigenous tribes or indigenous peoples refer to themselves as Sakai? No, no, it's not a tribe.
04:03So, there are three groups, there's the Senoi, the Proto-Malai and the Negrito and within under each of
04:18them there are about six groups depending on how they want to use it. There's a seventh in the Senoi
04:24group, the Temok that makes the total sub ethnic group 19 but generally they'll say that it's between 18 to 19
04:32depending on how you refer to it. But no, Sakai is not any of the the main ethnic categories nor is it
04:39any of the sub ethnic categories. It is an umbrella term that was used to refer to orang asli during
04:45colonial times. Okay, so what do you make then Kamal about the calls by certain rights groups and
04:51individuals to abolish completely the use of the term Sakai, abolish it altogether? Do you consider it
04:58using this term hate speech? Would you go that far? I think the reference that it was that or the
05:05the incident that sparked the conversation I think that could be maybe interpreted as hate speech
05:13at best if you want to be kind to the person maybe just ignorance and it reflects a deeper
05:19underlying racism that we shared as a community and how we look at the orang asli. We would not use
05:30derogatory terms commonly publicly in reference to other ethnic communities in Malaysia rightfully so
05:38because we recognize it's sensitive and we recognize that it is rude so we wouldn't use it against another
05:44group. Self-referencing is a different story we do we seem to do that quite a bit in our society in many
05:51societies but that's a different thing there's a different dynamics going on there but to call
05:56somebody else from another ethnic group using a derogatory term that is derogatory to them we would
06:03understand that that is rude and unacceptable and racist and yet somehow we have not quite seen it in the
06:11same light with orang asli and I think this is an opportunity for us to reflect into ourselves
06:17to look deeper into ourselves to challenge how we've come to understand orang asli as a group of
06:23people and whether or not colonial racism that frame that whole way of interpreting orang asli carries
06:30on today and how we think and talk about them. This is interesting because there are some younger
06:38people who are saying they want to reclaim that word that they have this hashtag proud Sakai campaign
06:49is reclaiming a derogatory term shifting its social meaning and also they highlight the fact that this is
06:56a term that's been used as you mentioned in colonial records that could have legal status or you know
07:03might have some implications on policy documents well what do you make of that do you think that
07:09removing this not just from vernacular but also from official use would help would actually weaken
07:16orang asli land claims or even identity their rights to self-determination of identity what do you think?
07:26um i think the quick answer would be no there because if if i'm not mistaken i'm not a lawyer i don't
07:32have a legal background but if i'm not mistaken the born new people's act acknowledges uh allows us to
07:39acknowledge the shift in the use of terminology and so you don't have to use the word uh Sakai to
07:46recognize that orang asli today when looking at historical documents such as colonial records refer to the same group
07:53i don't think we need to use it uh in a sense in official terminal in contemporary official use
08:01because it is it is recognized that another word has replaced it that that's the first one so i don't
08:07see a trap in that sense um number two we don't use it officially it's not a word used officially
08:15uh usually when you i mean i understand where they are coming from and i i respect that every individual
08:21has a right you know to have a voice and to speak uh their mind and it is uh a word that's used by the
08:28com i mean they are part of the community so the struggle is really internal um not a struggle that
08:33that i'm part of right so um for me i'm really speaking as an outsider um i can understand where
08:39they're coming from i can also understand why a lot of people would be angry with the use of the term
08:45but it is not i don't see it commonly used in everyday discourse in in official discourse it
08:53might have come up once or twice in certain official um you know speech or whatever if if there is any
09:01out there and i would think those would be anomalies rather than the norm in normal sense we use the term
09:07orang asli today we don't we hardly ever use aboriginal peoples as well to refer to orang asli um
09:14and and oran and oran asli is used because it is deemed a more neutral term a more positive term you
09:22know uh so officially we're not using it in the vernacular in the everyday use of the word when we use
09:27it it is used in a racist context it is used in a derogatory context and i think i think that that needs
09:33to be appreciated and understood and and and so um and so if we are using uh the hashtag as a positive
09:44way to reclaim we need to be very clear and specific uh on on why we're doing it because
09:49it's not in official discourses so if you are disrupting for example if you choose to take back
09:55a word in a context where there is uh overt racism and the term is used officially then i i can
10:04understand us wanting to reclaim that term and and use it in an empowered way right but here i i don't
10:12know if you're missing the i'm not so sure not so sure i understand um kamal something you said earlier
10:19really resonated with me you may you touched on the fact that we don't extend the same respect and
10:24consideration to orang asli uh when in our speech in our thoughts in our you know actions in our
10:31policy and decision making can i ask you if we were to zoom out a little bit and it's a bit big a bit
10:36of a big question here but what kind of reckoning do you think malaysia needs to have with our treatment
10:43of orang asli in other indigenous communities i think i think the the conversation today um and why i
10:50agreed to speak actually is that this is really a good opportunity for us to take stock of how as a
10:57society we see the oran asli and historically how as a as a wider society we've treated the oran asli
11:04um so there is a writer named mahat akia or mahat china who has written uh you know a very uh an incredible
11:13number of books for you know he retired as a dj with rtm uh the oran asli radio station in rtm and suddenly
11:21he became this prolific writer and he writes about uh perang sangkin which is the the the slave raiding
11:28wars that happened about i think 150 odd years ago uh in in different parts of perak i would imagine
11:36pahang and clantan would have stories of those as well but he focuses on on perak uh and he talks
11:42about how a group of uh of of our population would would slave rate uh oran asli villages and a lot of
11:52it is of course he's writing a fiction but i suspect and i think we need to ask him we need to get him on
11:57as well one day i suspect these are from oral traditions that's the the the the structure the the core
12:04content of it is from this the oral tradition but of course he has he has brought in romance and
12:09other stuff to make it readable uh and i think that's the first thing we need to realize malaysia
12:15does have a dark history of slavery uh and oran asli's were largely and this is not just a dead
12:23slaves or you know bonded kind of slavery right which we do recognize in our history books and all but
12:30these are the kind of slavery that we think happen in other countries where groups would go in you
12:35know raid the villagers kill the the those who oppose and kidnap those who are vulnerable and then
12:42sell them right so slavery uh is is part and i think as uh how we want to see the oras how we want
12:51in order for to be able to recognize the trauma or asli face i think it is important that we start by
12:57recognizing this uh at a wider level uh so my heart's book friction as it is is a good starting
13:05point to get a sense into the kind of trauma such an experience uh produced but of course they were
13:10not just passive uh they were not just passively accepting the violence they also responded you know
13:18and and so some sort of a truce was was made at some point and of course uh now you know this is this
13:24these are just orally transmitted that intergenerational i think that would be the starting
13:30point of how we think about dorasi the other one is of course to challenge the colonial perception of
13:34or asli as uh you know the kind of rousseau and uh noble savage uh they were living peacefully in nature
13:44as nature and and so in many ways when we talk about honestly in public we tend to be very
13:50uh condescending and personalistic you know and even the fact that we can refer to or asli as orasli
13:57rather than to refer to individual individuals or you know uh uh categories based on certain
14:05kind of you know uh themes like i i might talk about you melissa as melissa or melissa the the radio
14:11other than the television you know uh icon or you know but i won't say that malay woman
14:20that would just come out uh awkward right but we do that for us we tend to gloss over and i think
14:26that's uh there's a reason we do that and it is historically uh it is it is it has a history
14:33that and we need to it's you know it's 2025 we should by now look at it you know we we should
14:42do better for sure yeah come out thank you so much for sharing some of this you brought up some
14:47excellent points and i appreciate you for that thank you thank thanks melissa dr come out so how
14:52if i will from um's department of anthropology and sociology uh we're going to take a quick
14:57break here and consider this we'll be back with more stay tuned
Be the first to comment