Page 18 - 022021 PULSE@FASS e-Bulletin

Issue no. 2 | 2021
Tijah Yok Chopil and the

Orang Asli Grassroot Movement

B Y D R . R U H A N A P A D Z I L A N D D R . M A I M U N A M E R I C A N
G E N D E R S T U D I E S P R O G R A M M E A N D C E N T R E F O R
M A L A Y S I A N I N D I G E N O U S S T U D I E S ( C M I S )
A story from Tijah Yak Chopil and her relentless activism
for the Orang Asli brought us to understand more of their
perjuangan (struggle). Even though Tijah is not new to the
scene but her perjuangan, challenges and hopes for the
Orang Asli warrants to be told and shared. This is why we
are writing this article and also conducting this research.
The study was funded by a university research grant
(UMRG, 2018) under the umbrella of Centre for Malaysian
Indigenous Studies (CMIS).

One afternoon, we arrived in a very serene kampung
called Kampung Chang Lama situated in Bidor, Perak.
The surroundings reminded us of our childhood and
growing up years when communal living and simplicity
Dr Ruhana Padzil with Asmah Lily Telan (Activist OA: Jaringan
were the way of life. We were welcomed by one of the
Kampung Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia (JKOASM) N9) at
most tasty local kopi-o (black coffee) when we met Tijah
Malam Kebudayaan Persidangan Tanah Orang Asli ke-11, 2019
and that was how we started our conversation. She
opportunity to interview and get to know her through this
welcomed us to her home and introduced us to her family
research has raised our awareness about Orang Asli
members, from her little nephew to her sister.
struggles and their hopes. Tijah retold her story of this
struggle.
Her calm and easy manner made us feel as though we
had long known her and understood where she was
It all started in 1986, when she was young and teaching
coming from. She started telling us how she is skeptical
children for free at their house. Their house was used as a
about the present Perak Government as they were
community school to help the children of their community
adamant in going ahead with the logging permits given
in terms of literacy and education. The interest in
by the previous government though this would affect the
education spread from the children to teenagers and
livelihood of the Orang Asli as their river waters would be
eventually parents. So, she uses this as a platform to
polluted and also their way of life affected by
create consciousness about Orang Asli issues and their
deforestation.
rights.
She was hoping for a more forthcoming approach with
Tijah with her creativity and dedication uses children’s
the change of government to protect the Orang Asli rights
songs which are written by her in their local Semai
in terms of ancestral land and to stop logging. The
language to bring about awareness of their plight. Sung
“She was hoping for a more by the children, this slowly impacted teenagers and also
older people in the community, to realise the plight of the
forthcoming approach with Orang Asli. The lyrics of one of the songs goes like this, “if
the change of government to we see the forest, tears will fall as we witness the

protect the Orang Asli rights destruction of the forest through burning blaze which
makes it completely barren”.
in terms of ancestral land and
to stop logging. ” The highlight of it all came about when Tijah was
commissioned by the La Salle brothers to prepare bags

18 | Pulse @ FASS