Girl power: The women are carrying on the torch of mentoring others with their training and experience, such as uploading playful and lighthearted YouTube video tutorials on how to create content. — Apa Kata Wanita Orang Asli YouTube channel
WHEN Eda Anjang was in Form Three, she decided to drop out of school.
The young woman from the Semai tribe in Perak – now in her early twenties – still remembers the date vividly: Feb 15, 2011.
She recalled how other students used to force her to do their homework and when she tried to say no, the bullies would retaliate by scribbling on her uniform.
“When I decided to drop out of school because I could not stand the bullying, I told my good friend, Nie. She felt sad about my decision. What a waste for me to stop school.
“Now I just spend my time at home. How good would it be if I was still in school, I could gain knowledge and represent the school in sporting events,” shared Eda, who is the youngest of 11 siblings.
Eda’s schooling experience is just one of 18 stories from young Orang Asli women from various tribes across Peninsular Malaysia about their struggles with the country’s education system in the book Kami Pun Ada Hak Bersekolah (We Also Have Education Rights).
The challenges many faced involved a lot of bullying, denigration, lack of interest in studying due to various factors, having to travel long distances to attend school or simply having to move to a boarding school because the nearest schools are too far away for a daily commute.
The book became the catalyst for “Amplifying the Voices of Young Orang Asli Women”, a programme by Freedom Film Network (FFN) aimed at giving young indigenous women a platform for their stories, experiences and struggles.
But wait, I hear you wonder, isn’t FFN the not-for-profit body known for organising the annual Freedom Film Festival (FFF) that showcases films and documentaries on human rights and social issues?
You are right. FFN was indeed established in 2017 to take over organising the film festival from human rights popular communications NGO Pusat Komas, but the network has expanded its scope far beyond just the FFF since then.
Longtime cooperation with Orang Asli communities
It’s not like they actively planned to start the initiative for young Orang Asli women though, says FFN co-founders Anna Har and Brenda Danker.
The network had been working with the Orang Asli community in making social films for a long time before they came up with the initiative, says Danker.
“When we work with a community, it’s really to collaborate, to partner and then together, we tell stories so their voices are very present and they also make a lot of decisions.
“Then in 2018, we had the opportunity to work with young Orang Asli women. I think one of the most important issues that was present at the time was the dropout rate at schools for Orang Asli students was super high.”
In 2020, a report titled “Education policies in overcoming barriers faced by Orang Asli children: Education for All’ revealed data that showed indigenous children dropped out of primary and secondary schools at a much higher rate than the national average in 2018.
The national dropout rate in 2018 was 3.2% while for Orang Asli students, it stood at 23.3%.
By 2020, the Ministry of Education released statistics showing that 58.62% of Orang Asli students did not complete schooling up to Form Five. This figure reportedly dropped to 42.29% the following year.
“So we did a lot of due diligence, we went to villages and asked the elders, we asked the women themselves, do you want to tell this story?” Danker tells Sunday Star.
The women were indeed interested in telling their stories and this eventually culminated in the aforementioned book, which was also illustrated by young Orang Asli women.
‘Our identity is the most important issue’
“After that, we said what’s next? They said we want to tell our stories through film. We said sure,” Danker says.
Thus began a series of workshops and trainings for the women, teaching them how to develop a narrative for film, how to shoot and edit content and so on for a year.
But when it came to deciding what issue they wanted to highlight in their films, Danker says the women wanted to focus on their identity first.
“Even though our starting point was access to quality education, they said actually, the more important issue is our identity.
“We can fight for all these issues but if they don’t know us, then that is the first point that they need to understand; that we are Orang Asal from Malaysia and we are from the Peninsular because when people talk about indigenous people, they look first at Sabah or Sarawak.
“So they said when they go anywhere, nobody knows about it. They don’t have that kind of space or platform to tell their stories. So they want to do film,” she says.
The women released three short films within one and a half years since the start of the programme.
In this year’s FFF - which is its 20th anniversary - the women also premiered a 20-minute film titled Semangat Tinak in the Jakun language, which follows the journey of a young Orang Asli woman Tinak who is fighting encroachment on her ancestral land.
Aside from that, the 18 women, whose collective is known as “Apa Kata Wanita Orang Asli” (What say Orang Asli women), are now running a YouTube channel (of the same name) with over two thousand subscribers.
Freedom Film Network co-founders Anna Har (left) and Brenda Danker say the Apa Kata Wanita Orang Asli collective are now taking over the mantle of mentoring the next cohort. — FFN
Lives transformed
Har is in awe of how much the 18 women have changed since they joined the programme.
“Lives transformed. They’ve all become so mature, confident, and empowered. You can see it in a matter of years,” she says.
A prime example would be the women’s visits to schools, especially those with a high Orang Asli enrolment rate, to talk about their experiences and filmmaking.
“So many times, everywhere they go, they always ask (the students), what do you want to do next? How can we support you?
“They always get this response: ‘Saya nak jadi macam kakak supaya kami boleh menyumbang balik kepada komuniti kami’ (I want to be like you, older sister, so we can contribute to our community).”
“They are kakak (older sisters) now,” Danker says, with a laugh.
Nearly six years later, Danker says the women are basically running the programme on their own now.
Armed with their training and experience thanks to FFN, these confident young Orang Asli women are now taking on the mantle of mentoring the next cohort.
“Last year, they began to run their own workshops on how to use social media and how to create content for social media.
“They went to different villages and worked with young people to create content for YouTube and TikTok, but then they realised they cannot go to all the kampungs, so let’s do videos on YouTube.”
Hence the birth of the Apa Kata Wanita Orang Asli YouTube channel.
On their channel, the women upload videos showcasing Orang Asli culture as well as tutorials on how to create video content.
Their tutorial videos are playful and lighthearted with some of the women taking on acting roles to better illustrate their points.
The growth of those involved in the initiative is not just one-way though; Har says FFN also learned valuable lessons in helping these Orang Asli women blossom into their potential.
“It was also our first time kind of going through this journey in this way so I think we can learn a lot of things.
“It’s how to learn from this process of really working with a community in the right way that’s empowering.
“The girls themselves are learning from how we mentor them and (using those skills) to mentor others and we hope it will be that way.”
