Orang Asli voices may go silent as languages face extinction

Editor’s note: This article contains audio clips of the Orang Asli languages. Click on the clips to hear them.

SPECIAL REPORT | The rushing of a river, buzzing of insects and chirping of birds are all parts of a jungle chorus that urbanites are scarcely familiar with. Yet for centuries they have been part of the symphony that colours Malaysia’s once-dense interior. Woven into the harmonious tapestry of sounds are the languages of the forest’s most ancient dwellers.

The 18 groups that make up the broader Orang Asli community have lived here for an estimated 4,000-5,000 years. Now numbering about 215,000, they live across Peninsular Malaysia, from the remote jungles of Kelantan to islands off Klang.

There is a tendency to portray the Orang Asli as homogenous, but they are nothing of the kind.

As communities can be nomadic, live in remote areas and are at times reclusive, official population figures sometimes vary widely between official data and those by NGOs.

But it is generally accepted that the Orang Asli are divided into three main groups - the Negrito, Proto-Malay and Senoi. Each of these is further divided into six groups...