Looking at Sinui Pai Nanek Sengik Community Education Programs Rethinking Helping Others Help Themselves Introduction Sinui

Pai Nanek Sengik (SPNS), New Life One Heart, is an organization dedicated to improving the lives of Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia !ounded in "##$ after a decade of grassroots %ork in Orang Asli villages in Perak, SPNS run community education programs to mo&ilize communities for political and social action 'hey focus on encouraging Orang Asli communities to gain critical thinking skills and the confidence to speak up in the pu&lic arena in order to analyze Orang Asli pro&lems and find solutions to overcome these pro&lems Among their initiatives are literacy programs, economic pro(ects, human rights and legal %orkshops and community learning centers ackground A heterogeneous Malay term, first used &y Malaya)s *ritish colonists during the +mergency ("#,-."#/0), Orang Asli, to refers to at least "- culturally and linguistically distinct ethnic groups in Peninsular Malaysia Scholars translate this term to mean the 1a&original people) as %ell as the 1original people) (literal translation) as most Orang Asli descend from Pre.2slamic and Pre.Malay inha&itants of the region 3urrently, Orang Asli constitute appro4imately 0 $5 of Malaysia)s population 'raditionally, they engaged in hunting, forest harvesting, s%iddening, a&oriculture and small.scale trade though post. independent government development programs are forcing Orang Asli into modern, capitalistic cultural, economic and social structures and activities (6entan and +ndicott) SPNS identifies Orang Asli)s situation as 7like refugees8 in their o%n country %ho suffer similar pu&lic pre(udice and denial of rights and protection &y the state SPNS &elieves that core issues are land rights, culture and identity preservation, access to education and development and lack of recognition as indigenous people 2f statistics such as poverty and health indicators are %hat one refers to, they %ould sho% that Orang Asli to &e amongst the most marginalized groups in Malaysia (e g see Nicholas 9000) 6espite political efforts, Orang Asli re:uests for e:uita&le access to social services, economic opportunity and political inclusion have &een largely ignored ;hile some Orang Asli individuals have succeeded in the conventional sense < o&taining university degrees, professional careers, financial sta&ility etc < many other Orang Asli live %ith daily livelihood insecurity, threat of eviction, pre(udice, %ell.&eing === Often, these are caused &y the very ones entrusted to 1protect) the Orang Asli Since the "#>0s, the ?a&atan @al.+h%al Orang Asli (?@+OA), 6epartment of Orang Asli Affairs policy has aimed to converted Orang Asli into mainstream Malaysians, %hich according to their interpretation, has meant conversion to 2slam and forced settlement in

permanent villages 2n addition to forced settlement, many Orang Asli communities have &een evicted from their customary lands to make %ay for development schemes such as oil palm plantations or housing pro(ects (6entan and +ndicott 900,) Aecent political events and the strengthening of civil society have put more pressure on the state to address these issues to the e4tent that ?@+OA has &een renamed the 6epartment of Orang Asli 6evelopment, in an effort perceived to shed itself of its notorious reputation Band issues remain contested territory as demonstrated the 9009 Sagong 'asi vs Selangor State Covernment case and controversy over the 900- change to land policy %hich NCOs argue short.change Orang Asli land o%nership (refer to 'NC 900-, 90"0) Notes e!ore Starting !irstly, 2 %ish to fully ackno%ledge and &e accounta&le to the shortcomings of this paper ;hile 2 tried my &est to make use of resources availa&le to a college student in Maine, %ithout field %ork and feed&ack from SPNS and other related parties, my analysis is precarious and incomplete My discussion is heavily dependent on 73reating Dno%ledge !or 3hangeE A 3ase Study of Sinui Pai Nanek SengikFs +ducational ;ork ;ith Orang Asli 3ommunities in Malaysia8 &y founder of SPNS, 'i(ah 3hopil and social activist, ?erald ?oseph (900G) and the current Orang Asli Bearning 3enters Outreach Pro(ect !ace&ook page as the primary sources 2 have taken these at face value understanding that to essentialize SPNS this %ay is terri&ly naHve though sufficient for the purpose of this paper *y no means am 2 attempting a comprehensive assessment of SPNS)s %ork 2t is not my a&ility or place to 2 am undertaking this in the hopes of practice and learning ho% to apply and articulate my thoughts and :uestions a&out education as applied to a Malaysian civil society conte4t 'hey are thoughts 2 am struggling %ith as someone &oth immersed in and in tension %ith the privilege and poverty a successful education has given me 2 am less interested in a results.orientated analysis of program effectiveness or organization capacity, than investigating the theories of kno%ledge and kno%ing (epistemology) that inform SPNSFs process and %ork and ho% these might intersect %ith issues faced &y Orang Asli communities 'his in:uiry is relevant, 2 hope, since education itself relates to the appropriation of kno%ledge Literacy and Language 2 lack imagination, you say No 2 lack language 'he language to clarify my resistance to the literate ;ords are a %ar to me 'hey threaten my family

'o gain the %ord to descri&e the loss, 2 risk losing everything I 3herrie Moraga, 3hicana feminist, activist and poet, e4cerpt from 72tFs 'he Poverty8 3hopil and ?oseph open their report &y addressing that the common perception of Orang Asli &y outsiders is that they are 7stupid, unconfident, incapa&le of making decisions on their o%n, depending on others to do everything for them and lazy8 +lse%here, Alice Nah also discusses ho% these negative stereotypes have &een perceived to &e internalized and pro&lematized &y Orang Asli (Nah 900,) 2n schools, in particular, is this discrimination first e4perienced According to her intervie%ees, 7overcoming feeling of shame and inferiority continues to &e a struggle for most Orang Asli8 (Nah 900, "GG) 'he core of SPNSFs %ork is principled on empo%erment, independence and self. help (Nah 900, ##) SPNS %orks to%ards these &y encouraging community mem&ers to develop critical a%areness and their o%n self.confidence 'hey organize %orkshops that utilize theater games, team activities and small group discussions to facilitate dialogue, 7speaking up8 and developing pro&lem.solving skills Pro(ects for cultural a%areness and income.generation are proposed to provide opportunities to gain leadership skills and the e4perience that they can achieve goals and take things into their o%n hands %ith unity, hard %ork and tolerance As 'i(ah says in Nah (900,), 7;e don)t %ant to &e an organization that other Orang Asli communities depend upon ;e %ant to strengthen others, to help them run their o%n programs ;e don)t %ant to push, our role is (ust to support themJ 'he community themselves must do something So, %e teach people ho% to organize themselves, to unite together, to study the pro&lem, and to collect solid proof for action 8 SPNS is careful to avoid recreating the sense of dependency that has &een encouraged &y the paternalism of *ritish colonial administration and the Malaysian state %hich vie% Orang Asli as non.agents needing help and protection (Nicholas 9000) SPNS sees its role as a 7friend8 and values a 7t%o.%ay relationship8, 7participatory principles8, 7listening to the personFs needs and the person must &e a&le to listen to our needs8, 7learnKingL as %ell as teachKingL8 and 7sharKingL the peopleFs struggles8 'he community is seen as a reciprocal e:ual, not an o&(ect to &e acted upon At the same time, SPNS states that they hope to 7mo&ilize communities for political and social action8 ;hat this phrase actually means is not further clarified in any of the sources 2 used !or those of us %ho are so accustomed to hearing the bunyi tin-tin kosong (+=PBAN P+PA'A@) from a&ove, responsi&ility to our %ords gives dignity and strength to our %ork, and distinguish ourselves from those that choose to lie and cheat Open.ended and vague, ripe for rhetorical distortion, the use of this phrase and others such as 7empo%erment8 and 7look critically at their o%n situation8, raise :uestions a&out

the accounta&le use of language @aving a common, e4plicit goal is useful and necessary to engage in comple4 discussion and reflection %ith others ;hile they may &e useful to foster a collective identity and act as a rallying cry, repetition has a dangerous %ay of emptying meaning and turning into propaganda A&stracted out of their lived reality, %ords lose some of the practical details that te4ture and inspire creative and concrete engagement of pro&lems, contradictions and solutions Banguage locked in ideological thinkspeak is &land and incapa&le of stirring imagination 7Mo&ilize8 is often a victim of this 2n the ;estern Beft, the ideology of mass mo&ilization against their oppressors, for the people, &y the people, %hether through armed uprisings, civil diso&edience or popular protest, has often meant in reality, for a fe%, in the name of the people ;hen the term 7mo&ilize8 is used, especially outside a ;estern cultural setting, 2 think it is necessary to discuss %ho is defining this and %hat is its intended meaning to avoid its manipulation As it stands currently, 7mo&ilize communities for political and social action8 do not descri&e %hat this might look like, %ho is mo&ilizing, %ho is mo&ilized, or e4plain social and political action @o% do communities relate to this phraseM 2s it a concept that rose organically from the communitiesM 'he more common and conventional, the more likely it is to have practical, e4isting use in communities and less distorted &y hollo%ed.out %ords 2t is one thing to teach %ordsN it is another for others to speak %ords %e have taught them, and then for us to call them their o%n OPOPO 'he Dampung 3hang memorandum is one of SPNS)s successful colla&orative pro(ects 2t accounts the history, legends, traditions and customary land of the 3hang village from stories gathered from village elders and has &een typed into a document &y the younger villagers Not only a great source of pride, this document has &een used to demand recognition from the land authority over customary lands As material proof of history, this document %as more likely to &e undenia&le in the courts than the oral and lived customs of land use 'he present is dominated &y the regime of te4t ;ithout %ritten documents, %e are told %e don)t e4ist ;ith te4t, must %e prove having a name, a race, a religion and an address %hich ironically turns into a num&er Qnder the regime of te4t, some have &een taken advantage of, tricked into signing a%ay their land, their identities, their kno%ledge &ecause they kne% not ho% to read and %rite 'hus, to survive, to protect one)s self, it &ecame necessary to &ecome literate SPNS organizes formal classes for children, teenagers and adults as %ell as activities using songs and theater, income.generating pro(ects, field trips and issue.&ased %orkshops to this aim Photos from learning centers sho% classrooms decorated %ith pictures and %ords, student reading their story.&ooks, teachers) proudly sho%ing off their teaching log A timeta&le sho%s that almost half of lesson time is allocated to studying

Malay and +nglish A support group called Da%an.Da%an Mari Dita Mem&aca (!riends of Bet)s Aead Pro(ect), comprised of non.Asli volunteers, fund.raises for SPNS community li&raries and schools %hile another face&ook support group also fundraises school supplies 7;e have a passion for life and &elieve in the life.changing and life. affirming po%er of literacy and children)s fundamental right to education and %ell &eing8, they state 'he intense focus on literacy makes me %ary though 2 canFt deny its importance !rom %hat 2 gather, Orang Asli culture is deeply rooted in oral traditions 'hrough story. telling, ritual and daily conversation, the Orang Asli carry on the collective kno%ledge and social and ethical values that forms their %orldvie% and %ay of &eing (Nicholas 900, Oral 'radition) 'he stories, legends, local kno%ledge of this oral %orld &elong to the community, not to any particular individual . there is no %ay of really controlling o%nership and use of them 2t is through practice and sharing that they e4ist and persist Outsiders (an o&vious e4ample %ould &e &ioprospectors) have &een a&le to appropriate such kno%ledge and then e4clude the original ste%ards, &y guarding access through property right claims using various legal mechanisms to commodify the oral &y converting it into te4t 2n response to appropriation of such kno%ledge, some indigenous groups and their supporters have called these groups to protect this kno%ledge &y reifying it themselves, safe.guarding the oral in te4t As a defensive strategy, there may &e no choice SPNSFs pursuit of literacy though must &e done recognizing the potential tensions that literacy may encounter %ith Orang Asli %orldvie%s Stuchul, +steva and Prakash point out that literacy education often comes at the cost of marginalizing the oral %orlds that sustain many indigenous cultures Not (ust in terms time and resources spent on each, &ut, as Stuchul, +steva and Prakash argue, &ecause a te4t.&ased %orld and an oral.&ased one compete to make sense of the %orld Biteracy education, they argue, has often created te4tual minds, minds 7shaped and constructed as ifKtheyL %ere te4t8 A te4tual %ay of thinking helps preserve linearity, stasis and materiality as core cultural assumptions &ecause te4t conditions one to interpret reality this %ay
P!or e4ample, 6entan discusses ho% o&(ects are counted as singles, duals and many in

the Semai communities he has %orked %ith @e posits that this counting system is not a simple system of numerals, &ut reflects ho% these communities understand the %orld as &eing made up of individuals, couples and groups (6entan 2f there %ere no malays) 'his counting system is em&edded in cultural norms such as the sharing of food, social relations and Semai grammar Perhaps, it is this kind of counting system that supports traditional Semai society %hich is vie%ed as one of the most peaca&le kno%n to anthropologistsM 3ompared to modernityFs ideal of a cold and calculating, purely self. interested man and the crises %e are causing, 2 %onder this T"o #old Truths and $"areness

PP'o improve their lives, SPNS &elieves that the Orang Asli must raise their a%areness to

understand their political situation Many of SPNS)s initiatives and methods such as %orkshops, songs, field trips and theater games are focused to%ards this aim 'his is visi&le in the language used to e4plain them !or e4ample, 7'he a%areness created via the singing of children has helped in creating a%areness < %hether a%areness on land issues, education, cooperation, or not giving up hope easilyJ ;hen they attain this level, it is indication that certain individuals have already ac:uired &asic a%areness re:uired and that they can carry on to the ne4t level through other challenging means 8 SPNS highly values songs &ecause of the a%areness they can generate 'he catchiness of the songs sung &y children makes it contagious and catalyzes a chain reaction of a%areness, and the message of the song spreads virally through the community !urthermore, songs address a vast range of topics and can raise a%areness a&out political and social issues as %ell as moral values 'he importance of songs rest on the input to output ratio of a%areness they can create 2t is assumed that more a%areness is &etter than less a%areness Bike the consumerist culture increasingly televised glo&ally, a%areness is possessed and accumulated 'he accumulation of a%areness is %hat allo%s one to move to progressive a%areness levels Stratified linearly, literally, this line of thinking promotes hierarchal relationships &ased a%areness accumulated
PSPNS &elieves that a%areness is %hat ena&les action &ecause it helps communities look

at their pro&lems critically and formulate solutions &ased on that understanding 2n the e4ample &elo%, SPNS descri&es that a%areness must organically develop in the community, or else they %ould easily surrender to the situation or &e una&le to think of %ays out of the pro&lem if they faced an o&stacleE 7%hat is important during K%orkshopsL is the a%areness and understanding a&out certain issues %ould stem naturally and the community doesn)t feel that they have to learn a&out their issues %hether they like it or notJ Other%ise, the community %ould take action &ut give up %hen faced %ith an o&stacle or the action doesn)t %ork &ecause they %ould only do %hat %e tell them to do, rather than doing it &ased on their a%areness8 SPNS dedication to &uilding a%areness does not see that a%areness &uilding implicitly assumes that community mem&ers lack a%areness a priori Statements such as, 7'he pro&lem %e are trying to overcome regards land @o%ever, the KDampung 3hangL villagers are una%are of this and have no kno%ledge a&out the Orang Asli customs, ta&oos, their villageFs and communityFs history and the tragedies and legends that %ere &elieved to have happened in their customary land 'he method to%ards making them understand these is to use data and facts gathering8,

imply that those %ho are directly affected to the land issue lack the capacity to understand %hat is happening to them 'he shift from 7%e8 to 7them8 (Banguage &arrierM) supports a thought that someone, more a%are, must make the other a%are of the pro&lem perception 2n framing the over.arching pro&lem as one of a%areness, though su&tle, this attitude legitimizes the vie% of Orang Asli are 7stupid8 &ecause they cannot even understand their o%n pro&lems, undermining SPNSFs intention to dispel this
P*ar&ara Boyda Sanchez *e(arano, a *olivian political activist, tells us after years of

%orking %ith Andean campesino communities using similar popular education and !reirian consciencitization methodologies, her realization that they %ere una&le to overcome the hierarchal relationship &et%een the vanguard and the masses, the educator and the oppressed due to their cultural assumptions that vie%ed the communities) o%n %ays of kno%ing as inferior to the 7scientific theory of history8 they advocated ($0) She reflecting on this, she asksE 7;hat can &e done %hen the participants cannot a&stract themselves from their lives so as to think, %hen they can simply live itM ;hat can &e done %ith people for %hom %hat %e %ant to separate as a moment or point of departure contains all at once the present, the past and the futureM @o% are %e to raise the consciousness of a people %ho live according to each set of circumstances < people %ho &ase their lives on conversations and the harmony &et%een mem&ers of their communityM J 2t %as our %hole %ay of thinking %ith its goals, purposes and methods that proved so inade:uate %hen confronted %ith these people so different from us8 (/,) 'hese methodologies only understood consciousness as the mind separated from em&odied e4perience, thinking a&stracted from living 3ampesino %ays of kno%ing, learned from e4perience, sustained &y collective memory and em&edded in daily practicality and survival, %ere discounted compared to disconnected, rationalized reasoning and theories Qnder the guise of conscientization, *ar&ara realized that she %as imposing a foreign %ay of making sense of the %orld onto the communities 'he %orld contains a myriad of %ays of kno%ing 2n their a%areness raising activities, SPNS appears to, though %ith good intentions, promote a certain kind of a%areness, inherently hierarchal, as the legitimate form, over perhaps, different %ays of kno%ing through %hich the communities may already 7see themselves8, make sense of their situation and offer creative alternatives +ducation As the market economy e4pands and the natural commons is commodified, communities are displaced from these commons that sustain them 2n this %orld, an education is fast &ecoming the narro% %ay to survive 'his education must &y certified

&y the right institutions in the appropriate disciplines, and even so, university graduates are considered lucky if they find employment, %hat more meaningful (o&s SPNS assert that Orang Asli communities have &een left out of educational opportunities relative to other segments of Malaysian society 'heir desires and re:uests to address systemic ine:ualities have largely fallen on ears un%illingly to listen and respond Some &lame Orang Asli for not caring a&out educating their children %ell, attri&uting their attitude and culture for their poverty and marginalization (e g NS' ====) 'hose %ho do this do not recognize or can imagine that the national education system of compulsory schooling place Orang Asli at an immediate disadvantage and can &e a traumatic e4perience Orang Asli children encounter significant pre(udice in pu&lic, government.run school as %ell as systemic disadvantages due to material poverty, legal and (udicial access, and cultural marginalization among others *ullying, cost of attendance as %ell as characteristics of the national mainstream schooling system such as su&(ect relevance, medium of instruction and teaching methodology do not respect and create room for their traditions and systems (Nicholas 900/) 'his stigma is to the e4tent that some scholars have %ritten papers to assert the opposite, that many Orang Asli %ant a good education for their children (e g Nicholas 900/, 6entan 900-) SPNS has taken the task of educating Orang Asli communities into their o%n hands 'hey have esta&lished si4 learning centers in villages in Perak and Negeri Sem&ilan 'hese centers are self.funded and run &y volunteers from SPNS and the community 2mportantly, they give Orang Asli children a safe and fostering space %here they can attain similar curricular proficiency %ithout relying on government.run schools 3hildren stay %ith the community, %hereas one government solution matriculates Orang Asli children to residential schools 'eachers themselves are Orang Asli and the small size of these centers allo%s teachers to accommodate the a&ility and needs of each student 2n addition, these centers also educate children a&out Orang Asli struggle, history and culture ignored in the national curriculum Qnderlying each community education initiative is a &asic faith in the good of education Not only %ill education provide social mo&ility and the security and satisfaction of a middle class life that accompany it, education %ill e:uip one %ith cosmopolitan kno%ledge to understand the %orld, and the moral foundations to &e a good citizen Scholars %ho acutely point.out the inherent violence of the schooling system, remain devout &elievers and stop their criti:ue short at the metanarrative of education !or e4ample, 6entan, fully recognizing that state.run education, at least, is a means of social control that reproduces hierarchal order, %rites 7if education %ere the goal instead of su&ordination and assimilation, a separate system of education might %ork &etterJ one %hich treats their culture %ith respect rather than as an a&sence of other people)s

culture8 (6+N'AN 900-) +lse%here, 6entan e4plains that education is 7%idening people)s horizon)s and giving them personally &eneficial skills8, schooling is 7enforcing the hidden curriculum8 %hich can &e understood as 7the kno%ledge and &ehavior schools inculcate %ithout overt discussion8N he concludes, that the Orang Asli should 7gain control of the education of their children and to educate them in %hat %ill then &e an Orang Asli %ay8 (6+N'AN 90"0) +ven though Nicholas %rites 7K'he national education systemL is in contrast to the traditional Orang Asli system %here the learning process and method is multi.faceted and holisticJ 'here is no fi4ed curriculum or sylla&us, nor timeta&le for learning Bearning is treated merely as a process to &e a good Orang Asli, not to compete in the a%ard of a certificate8 sentences like 7KOrang AsliL should &e allo%ed to continue to &ear the responsi&ility of educating their children < only this time as e:ual partners %ith the education professionals8 suggest that these scholars see the failure of education as one of delivery and e4ecution than lying %ithin the concept itself 'o e4plain my current stance on education, 2 &orro% from Khave seen into the fallacy of their national education systemsLM scholars interested in alternatives to education and activists committed their lives to regenerating community spaces for learning as QNN+3+SSAARM 6issenters see education in a less haloed light 'hey suggest that similar to ho% hospitals and medicine are confused %ith health, education is e:uated %ith learning Bike a clever advertising strategy, education is marketed as a need, something everyone deserves . 7Rou are %orth it8 ?ohn @olt, a QS American regarded as the founder of the homeschooling movement there, sees education as 7something that some people do to others for their o%n good, moulding and shaping them and trying to make them learn %hat they think they ought to kno%8 (32'+ 2NS'+A6 O! +6Q3A'2ON) Matt @ern, a 3anadian deschooling advocate descri&es education as an 7interpretation of %hat is good and important kno%ledge to have, %hat every person ought to kno% to &e a legitimate mem&er of society8 (@ern "##- 'he Promise of 6eschooling) KScholars 6ana Stuchul, Custavo +steva and Madhu Prakash, adopt an even more damning assessment of education and descri&e it as the commodification of kno%ledge flo%s and thus, privileging those at the top of our political economies L 3Q'M ;hile 2 could may&e argue that certain FsidesF are more right than others, more importantly 2 think that the tension &et%een these different vie%s &ring up ho% education needs to &e un%rapped from its holy shroud ;hen 2 look at the gro%ing economic disparity, land alienation, human e4ploitation, cultural homogenization, ecological destruction and am told that these are due to a lack of education, and yet, %itness the e4pansion of education industries, 2 gro% slightly suspicious Since, the dominant vie% is that education is inherently good, here, 2 choose to raise more skeptical vie%s as they relate to SPNS programs

'hose that remain hopeful a&out education separate its ideals from the structures that it has come to represent +ducation e4ists as a social construct %hich &ears institutional conse:uences As a mechanism, it producers %inners and losers ;inners %ho thrive %ithin this system are a%arded %ith social status and monetary gain, those %ho cannot adapt or choose to resist are vie%ed as lesser citizens, uneducated, not to &e taken seriously Clo&ally, the educated elite concoct policies &ased on their research, models and theories for the rest of the %orldN on a smaller.scale, those %ith educational certification go into professions form the middle.class %hile the uneducated are e4cepted &e contented to populate the %orking class +ven at the community.level, education creates &oundaries &et%een those %ho are more educated %ith those %ho are less 2n my o%n meanderings, 2 have met countless insightful and %ise people, %ho preface %hat they say %ith, 72 am not educatedJ8 as if %hat they kne% or thought %as any less valid &ecause they did not finish school, read &ooks and learn to speak FproperF language 'he premise for education is that there are certain &odies of kno%ledge and thinking patterns that should &e kno%n *y legitimizing and attaching po%er to certain forms of kno%ledge and %ays of kno%ing over others, education sets up this artificial hierarchy 'he undereducated are vie%ed as Fradically deficientF despite possessing their o%n common sense and %ay of understanding the %orld ;hen it is educators %ho &elieve they possess the right kind of kno%ing, educators cannot fully say that there is e:uality &et%een them and those %ho must &e educated 2n one photo of a SPNS learning center, there are some traditional crafts and tools hung up and la&eled on the %all 'he %all %as also decorated %ith colorful cut.outs of sea creatures and scenery ?ust seeing these photos, 2 %onder %hat the community mem&ers feel %hen they look at those crafts and tools hung up on the %all Situated %ithin and run &y the community, these learning centers are important spaces for Orang Asli children to learn a&out their communitiesF culture so marginalized in national, mainstream schools @o%ever, culture cannot &e separated from ho% it is learned from ho% it is lived 'his is clear %hen Nicholas %rites, 7'he village is the schoolhouse, and the teachers are the child)s parents, si&lings, uncles, aunties, grandparents, cousins and neigh&ors !rom the elders, the Orang Asli child learns a&out the riches of the environment, and ho% it %ill forever protect them as long as they reciprocate the relationship 'he usefulness of the products of the forest < for fuel, medicine, food, &uilding materials, crafts and of peace of mind < are continually sho%n to the child 'he child itself is encouraged to use the forest as its playground 'hat the forest is a living entity, %ith a soul and spirituality of its o%n is also imparted to the child Aemove this dominion and you remove the very &asis of the fa&ric of Orang Asli society 8

Orang Asli culture is nestled in social relationships, lived e4perience and daily practiceN a classroom can never sufficiently teach this @o% do you ever convey to a child the richness of understanding that the forest lives, has its o%n spiritually, in a classroomM 2f not used, traditional tools &ecome artifactsN though they might come to sym&olize identity or culture, they %ay in %hich they &ecome a part of living is lost Nicholas also suggests, Orang Asli culture is deeply em&edded in relationships to the natural %orld 2f this is indeed true, it is slightly surprising to me that this aspect is not included in SPNS)s methodologies 2 feel ashamed to &ring this up, since it is my o%n lifestyle and cultural influences that are causing the ecological crises %e are %itnessing @o%ever, 2 do &elieve that our dominant political, social and economic systems and the cultural values they produce are tightly linked to these crises +ducation is one of most important institutions for this reproductionN it %as in school, confined in concrete &uildings, that my peers and 2 %ere trained to think that to &e an o&edient citizen, a hard%orking employee and a middle.class consumer lifestyle %as the good life ;hat Nicholas descri&es, to me, suggests that for the Orang Asli there %as no separation &et%een life and learning +ducation did not e4ist At the same time, it %ould &e difficult to refute that in the contemporary Malaysian conte4t, 7getting an education8 might &e a temporary necessity 2n this case, these %ords %hich, so far, 2 have found &est communicate my feelings, 7they adopt the same attitude that they take &efore (unk foodE they kno% that the latter does not nourish, although sometimes it may cur& hunger8
(32'+)

Notes #or Ending 2 %ant to repeat that these are thoughts that 2 have only &egun to e4plore recently Many of my points need to &e refined and made more consistent Most importantly, they need to &e engaged %ith on the ground %ith those %ho face the day.to.day practical comple4ities and constraints that intellectual arguments don)t have to deal %ith 2 place my thoughts here though, not to put the &urden of fi4ing our pro&lems onto those %ho did nothing to cause it, &ut to say the past is difficult to undo 2 also &elieve that people like me, entrenched %ithin the capitalist.consumer society might have something to learn from cultures such as many of the Orang Asli communities %ho can imagine other %ays of living that are respectful to ecological systems and human spirit 2 hope for Orang Asli as %ell as other communities to &e a&le to nurture and nourish their o%n %ays of kno%ing and &eing as they see fit As much as these points might urge a deep :uestioning of the education myth, 2 hope they open and support other creative path%ays as %ell as roads SPNS is already engaged in !or e4ample, the opening of SPNS learning centers as %ell as other recent political undertakings suggest that Orang Asli communities see that they already are the change

they %ish to see +4posure programs and pro(ect.&ased learning are non.educational opportunities for self.learning 'he Orang Asli %ho have dropped out of the national education system perhaps are demonstrating intelligence and conviction . help them find %ays to learn skills and livelihood practices so that they can 1make a living) and contri&ute to community Perhaps %hen the spirit is nourished, people %ill learn to 1speak up), kno%ing the truth in their %ords has po%er, not &ecause they are parrots of their educators 2nstead on insisting on a fundamental lack, affirm the daily practices and lived kno%ledge already there Aecognize that it is not easy to survive a %orld that steps on others %ith different %orldvie%s than those at the top 2t takes immense courage and strength to remain true to %ho you are %hen re%ards and &ri&es compel conformity and this should &e cele&rated