Hey friends,
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about our relationship with nature, and how, somewhere along the way, many of us became disconnected from it. I came across a story about Indigenous communities in Australia co-managing protected lands, and it really got me wondering: what about here in Malaysia? What can we learn from the Orang Asli and their deep connection to the land?
In modern society, nature is often seen as a resource, something to be used, developed and profited from. But for the Orang Asli, it’s something much deeper. Nature is home. It’s life. It’s sacred.
Their entire way of life revolves around this connection. From how they hunt and gather, to the way they honour their forests through rituals and stories, it is all rooted in respect and reciprocity. To them, the land isn’t separate from us, – it’s connected and just as alive as we are.
If that reminds you a little of the famous film, Avatar, you’re not wrong. But this isn’t fiction – it’s been real, and alive, for generations.
🌳 “Tanah untuk Kehidupan, Bukan untuk Keuntungan” (“Land is meant for life, not for profit.”)
I once read this line and it stuck with me. Because at a time when climate change, deforestation, and pollution are accelerating, maybe the solution isn’t just more tech or stricter policies. Maybe it’s a mindset shift, a return to something we’ve lost.
I read about a project in Peninsular Malaysia where Orang Asli communities are actively involved in protecting forests. They’re monitoring illegal logging, replanting trees with native species, and sharing knowledge about how to care for the land in ways science still struggles to understand. Their traditional ecological knowledge, what trees belong where, how rivers breathe, when animals migrate, goesmigrate, goes far beyond what satellites or surveys can tell us.
It’s a reminder that the land doesn’t need to be managed, it needs to be respected. And Indigenous people have been showing us how to do that all along.
But here’s the thing: they can’t do it alone. Indigenous-led initiatives need more than just praise; they need real support. That means respecting land rights, uplifting their voices, and learning from their ways instead of sidelining them.
Imagine if more companies, leaders, and all of us started asking: 💬 How can we live with the land, instead of just on it? 🌱 How can we heal the damage instead of adding to it? 🫱🏽🫲🏾 And how can we be better relatives, not just to each other, but to the earth?
Maybe the answers aren’t somewhere far off in the future. Maybe they’ve been here all along rooted in Indigenous knowledge, whispered through the trees, guarded by the Orang Asli, waiting for us to finally listen.
Let’s start listening.