Orang Asli Talks in Akiya’s Tuntut

The publication of the anthology of Tuntut (2001) by Akiya marks an important development for the identity of the Orang Asli’s community for reasons that will be discussed in this paper. The meaning of Tuntut is ‘to reclaim’ and immediately implicates ideological reading in the anthology. In literary practice, Tuntut has become the medium for Orang Asli ‘voices’ to reach out beyond their ‘silent’ settlements to a culturally diverse Malaysian readership. There is the tendency to take the identities of the Orang Asli for granted. Also, Orang Asli seems to be sustained in our social memory as one of our ‘dormant’ and ‘distant’ relatives. This paper proposes that the narratives are critical in order for Orang Asli to make an authentic articulation of their identities. Ultimately, it is important that we know how and how much has Akiya succeeded in making a judicious representation of Orang Asli through selected narratives to resist the temptation of totalisation against their identities.