An Orang Asli Settlement

The Orang Asli settlement, is situated in Mukim of Endau Pahang. It is situated deep in the forest about 18 miles from the town of Kuala Rompin. It is linked to the main road, by a timber track. The total area of the settlement is 3,000 acres of which about 400 acres have been cleared for house sites, making ladangs and for rubber growing. The whole area and the area surrounding the settlement is undulating and contour is over 100 feet above sea level. There is a network of unused timber timber tracks within the settlement. The settlement is drained by numerous rivers like Sungai Mauk, Sungai Anak Endau, Sungai Geronchong and Sungai Batu Uban.
There are 189 people living in the village and all of them belong to the Jakun tribe. Although they are Jakuns they refer to themselves as Orang Asli. There is a reason for this. The word Orang Asli gives meaning of solidarity of the Jakuns with other aboriginal tribes in the country. They only use the word Jakuns when they want to distinguish themselves from the other tribes.

Before the Orang Asli here came to the notice of the Government, they led a migratory life opening up farms as they moved from one place to another. Tracing the migratory pattern of his ancestors, the wise old man of the village who is also the 'Pawang' said the originally his ancestors lived at the mouth of the river along the coast. The cruel arbitrary rule of the Malay Sultans and later the bad treatment they received from the Bugis forced them to move further and further deep into the jungle. The movement was along the river. He remembered this migration in his childhood days until finally they led a settled life. The movement of the people was along the Anak Endau River.
The circumstances of how the settlement came into being is interesting. In 1964 the Batin i.e the headman along with five families left the kampong and illegally opened up the settlement. According to the Batin, he had appealed the Government a number of times that he and his people be allowed to live elsewhere, preferably on higher ground as his kampong was subjected to flooding. His appeals were turned down. as the floods made living difficult, he decided to open up the kampong with or without the Government's permission. a few months after he and his people had settled down, the Government officer's came to approach him. After several meetings the Government eventually agreed to recognise the kampong as an Orang Asli settlement. He in turn promised that they would no longer lead a migratory life. In 1965, the Batin invited all his other people who were found scattered in various kampong to come to settle in this area.