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14. Living on the Periphery: Development and Islamization among the Orang Asli.
Nobuta, Toshihiro. February, 2008．
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What set out as a study on the survival strategies of the Orang Asli in the wake of state-led development found the author being confronted by another element—Islamization–influencing bothe their social relations and their access to development.
The book gives an exceptional peak into the contemporary social and economic situation of the Orang Asli in their village setting, providing insight not only into the familiar dichotomy of haves and have-nots, but also into the villagers’ close relations with both Chinese and Malays, including intermarriage, over many generations.
Living on the Periphery exposes the attitudes of the non-Orang Asli, their different world views, and especially their control of local resources. Even for the people familiar with Malaysia. Nobuta’s ethnographic account puts a spotlight on the jarring inequalities experienced by Orang Asli that otherwise are so easily overlooked.