Probe into allegations that Malaysian Government sanctions forced conversions

Aid groups have raised the alarm about alleged ‘clandestine’ efforts by government to assimilate indigenous people into mainstream Muslim culture in Malaysia.

The Centre for Orang Asli Concerns reports ‘forced assimilation and bullying’ among the indigenous tribes of the Peninsular in a country where to be Malay means to be Muslim in law.

The issue of forced conversions of the Orang Asli [indigenous] tribes to Islam is almost never discussed openly in Malaysian society for fear of being seen to challenge Islam as the constitutional religion of state.

But Colin Nicholas, himself Malay, has spoken to Lapido claiming that pro-Orang Asli activists have received ‘plenty’ of complaints from the indigenous tribespeople of forced assimilation and bully tactics by government authorities. 

According to Nicholas, they are now reluctant even to show their identity cards for fear that their religious status will be changed against their will.

In a country which professes to practice ‘moderate Islam’, no major news organisation, be it print or broadcast, dares touch the issue – unless at the behest of the ruling government that has been in power since Independence in 1957.

Yet activists warn that the Orang Asli fear their traditional lifestyle and culture will be swallowed whole in the face of covert assimilation moves.

‘There are complaints that if they don’t convert, they don’t get access to amenities. It seems the Orang Asli are considered as an open hunting ground to proselytise,’ Colin Nicholas told Lapido.

The Orang Asli have largely been marginalised despite the rapid physical development that has taken place in select parts of the country, with some settlements located barely a few hours away from the nation’s capital of Kuala Lumpur.

The indigenous tribes of the Peninsular were for a long time animists, paying homage to the elements and placating the jungle environment they call home.  Some were even head-hunters.

Now the Perkim (the Malaysian Islamic Welfare Organisation) have announced it is their ‘right’ to convert (the Orang Asli), adding a different pressure.

Defending their way of life

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Shafie, an Orang Asli activist from the Cek Wong tribe in Pahang, claims to have dealt with numerous cases where the government sanctioned many different methods to convince, and in some cases, coerce the Orang Asli into converting. 

They then use converts to convince others, by lying about the consequences.

Shafie told Lapido of one incident in his home village in Lanchang, Pahang where Orang Asli converts told their fellow tribes people that they would not have to give up their traditional lifestyle if they converted.

‘Those converts were telling lies. The Orang Asli treasure their food, treasure their culture (sayang lauk, sayang budaya) including pork’, claimed Shafie, speaking in Malay.

He said Orang Asli converts are calling on the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to be more active in efforts to proselytise their fellow tribespeople, causing growing friction within the community.

Shafie highlighted another case in Kelantan in the far north where schoolchildren from the Batek tribe were allegedly singled out by a local imam or Islamic religious leader and converted without their parents’ consent.

‘The Batek were angry, and fined the imam RM4,000 (821 pounds sterling) under Orang Asli customs, but they were only paid with 100 rubber saplings. Even those were eaten by the pigs,’ Shafie said.

Clash of religious dominance

The erosion of Orang Asli rights is not simply the fault of over-zealous religious officials sanctioned by the government, claims Nicholas.

The Malays – who account for 60 percent of the country’s 28 million population and are Muslim as required by the federal constitution – have never been keen on engaging with the Orang Asli whom they consider ‘dirty’.

He said the problem began with the advent of missions thirty years ago, when the Orang Asli first became Christian.

Funding from America followed.  Muslims felt threatened and launched an all-out movement to counter the spread of Christianity among the Orang Asli.

He claimed that government religious departments have offered incentives such as cash rewards and four-wheel-drive trucks to aid their efforts to proselytise the Orang Asli.

This has left the Orang Asli between a rock and a hard place, argues Nicholas.

‘It doesn’t matter if it is Christian or Muslim, these people come in and work on the assumption that the Orang Asli have no religion and are there to be saved.  This is wrong,’ he said.