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Orang
asli Orang Semang di Semenanjung terkait dengan orang Melayu Malay Peninsula. Ketika
orang Melayu semasih berada di wilayah pantai, Orang Semang seluruhnya berada
di pedalaman/di pegunungan. Di Sumatra
ada orang asli yang disebut Orang Sakai, Orang Kubu (dan juga ada yang disebut
Orang Pendek) tetapi hidupnya berada di wilayab dataran rendah di belakang
garis pantai. Penduduk asli yang berada di perairan disebut Orang Laut.
Penduduk pedalaman Sumatra dari ujung selatan hingga ujung utara Sumatra antara
lain Orang Lampung, Orang Komering, Orang Kerinci dan Orang Minangkabau (pra
Melayu), Orang Batak, Orang Gayo/Alas. Orang Melayu di Semenanjung juga kini di
pedalaman tetapi orang Melayu di Sumatra tetap berada di wilayah pantai.
The Semang are an ethnic-minority
group of the Malay Peninsula. They live in mountainous and isolated forest
regions of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah of Malaysia and the southern
provinces of Thailand. They have been recorded since before the 3rd century.
They are ethnologically described as nomadic hunter-gatherers. The Semang are
grouped together with other Orang Asli groups, a diverse grouping of several
distinct hunter-gatherer populations. Historically they preferred to trade with
the local populations, but at other times they were subjected to exploitation,
raids and slavery by Malays or forced to pay tribute. For more than one
thousand years, some of the Semang from the southern forests were enslaved and
exploited until modern times, whilst others remain in isolation. In Malaysia,
the term Semang (Orang Semang in Malay) is used to refer to the
hunter-gatherers, that are referred to more generically as Negrito, Spanish for
'little negro'. In the past, eastern groups of Semang have been called Pangan.
Semang are referred to as Sakai in Thailand, although this term is considered
to be derogatory in Malaysia. In Malaysia, the Semang are one of three groups
that are considered to be Orang Asli, the hunter-gatherer people of the
Peninsula. The other two groups are the Senoi and the Proto-Malay (Aboriginal
Malay). The Semang have six sub-groups: Kensiu, Kintaq, Lano, Jahai, Mendriq
and Batek. The Malaysian federal government has designated the Department of
Orang Asli Development (Jabalan Kemajuan Orang Asli, JAKOA) as the agency
responsible for integrating the Orang Asli into the wider Malaysian society. The
three category division of the indigenous population was inherited by the
Malaysian government from the British administration of the colonial era. It is
based on racial concepts, according to which the Negrito were seen as the most
primitive race leading the vagrant way of life of hunter-gatherers. The Senoi
were considered more developed, and the Proto-Malay were placed at almost the
same level with the Malaysian Malay Muslims.(Wikipedia)
Lantas
bagaimana sejarah Orang Semang diantara Orang Melayu di Semenanjung Malaya? Seperti
disebut di atas, orang asli ada di berbagai tempat termasuk di Semenanjung dan
di Sumatra. Bagaimana hubungan orang Melayu dengan orang asli di Semenanjung
dan orang Melayu dengan orang asli di Sumatra? Lalu bagaimana sejarah Orang
Semang sendiri diantara Orang Melayu di Semenanjung Malaya? Seperti kata ahli
sejarah tempo doeloe, semuanya ada permulaan. Untuk menambah pengetahuan dan
meningkatkan wawasan sejarah nasional, mari kita telusuri sumber-sumber tempo
doeloe..