The International Student Society of Bangladesh (ISSBD) is one of the major international student country chapters of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Over the last few years, the ISSBD has organised several notable events for the benefit of international students and the local community.
One of these events is the Orang Asli Village tour, which was held during the 2nd day of exploring natural beauty at Taman Negara Pahang on 10-12th June 2022. Taman Negara is the home to two ethnic groups of Orang Asli: Batek and Semokberi.
The tour participants could witness the ecstatic culture of these two tribes during their visit. They were able to see how the orang asli, in traditional lifestyle, live there (no electricity, bamboo huts, living off the forest for food – fruits, yams and small animals like monkeys, squirrels and many more).
Even though their lifestyle is conventional, they still enjoy the privilege of having water at the village, going to Kuala Tahan for education and medication purposes, getting tobacco from the local store, and accepting gifts from tourists who visit them.
One of the most attractive parts of the tour was the blowpipe show which is a prominent part of the villagers’ culture. The bamboo blowpipe is the traditional hunting weapon of the Orang Asli. The tourist guide of the event stated that this hunting is a medium for men to become able to be experts in life especially for hunting.
Moreover, it also helps the women to choose their life partners by choosing the best hunters. The students also learned this special way of hunting, and they enjoyed the learning.
Apart from that, the students learned how to light a fire in a traditional way by using natural things. They were able to get in touch with the real essence of Malaysia through the tour.
As a sign of gratitude, ISSBD gave 30 sets of children’s pencil sets and 30 boxes of color pencils to the children of the village, which were handed over to the head of the village.
The whole event was arranged in an organized way so that the students would be able to have a great experience and gain knowledge about the culture and people of Malaysia. At the same time, they were able to manifest cultural diversity and learn innovative thoughts for reservation of global heritages.
In conclusion, ISS Bangladesh successfully gave an opportunity to the students to have a great experience of the culture of Malaysia through the visit to Orang Asli Village. This Student Chapter of UTM is looking forward to creating more fruitful activities like this in the upcoming future.
