Temiar people

The Temiar are a Senoic group indigenous to the Malay peninsula and one of the largest of the eighteen Orang Asli groups of Malaysia. They reside mainly within Perak, Pahang and Kelantan states. The total ethnic population is estimated at around 32,000, most of which live on the fringes of the rainforest, while a small number have been urbanised.[2]

Temiar people
Orang Temiar / Mai Sero'

Total population
30,118 (2010)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Malaysia (Perak, Pahang, Kelantan)
Languages
Temiar language, Malay language
Religion
Traditional religion and significant adherents of Christianity or Islam
Related ethnic groups
Semai people

A Temiar headdress.

Temiar are traditionally animists, giving great significance to nature, dreams and spiritual healing.[2][3] The ceremonial Sewang dance is also performed by the Temiar people as part of their folk beliefs.[4]

Population

The changes in the population of the Temiar people are as the following:-

Year	1930s[5]	1960[6]	1965[6]	1969[6]	1974[6]	1980[6]	1991[7]	1993[7]	1996[6]	2000[8]	2003[8]	2004[9]	2010[1]
Population	2,000	8,945	9,325	9,929	10,586	12,365	16,892	15,122	15,122	17,706	25,725	25,590	30,118

Culture

Traditional food

• Nasi serempad, rice cooked in bamboo[10]
• Umbut Bayas Masak Gulai, pith curry[10]
• Pucuk Paku Peno’ol, vegetable pucuk paku fern, tapioca leaves and anchovies cooked in bamboo[10]

Settlement area

Major settlements of the Temiar are namely:-

• Jeram Bertam, Kelantan[11]
• Kampung Chengkelik, Kuala Betis, Kelantan[12]
• Kampung Merlung, Kuala Betis, Kelantan[13]
• Kampung Jarau Baru, Kemar, Gerik, Perak
• Kampung Sungai Cadak, Ulu Kinta, Perak
• Kampung Temakah, Perak
• Kampung Ulu Gerik, Perak
• Kampung Tonggang, Tanjung Rambutan, Perak[14]
• Pos Poi, Lasah, Sungai Siput (North), Perak[15]
• Pos Perwor, Lasah, Sungai Siput (North), Perak
• Air Banun, Hulu Perak District, Perak
• Kemar, gerik, Perak

See also

• Dream Theory in Malaya

References

1. Kirk Endicott (2015). Malaysia's Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli. NUS Press. ISBN 99-716-9861-7.
2. Southeast Asia Link. "Temiar of Malaysia". Joshua Project. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
3. Andy Hickson. "The Temiars". Temiar Web. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
4. Kenny Mah (3 March 2016). "'Khabar dan Angin': Three artists explore faith in Kelantan". The Malay Mail Online. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
5. P. Boomgaard (1997). P. Boomgaard, Freek Colombijn & David Henley (ed.). Paper landscapes: explorations in the environmental history of Indonesia. KITLV Press. p. 228. ISBN 90-671-8124-2.
6. Nobuta Toshihiro (2009). "Living on the Periphery: Development and Islamization Among Orang Asli in Malaysia" (PDF). Center for Orang Asli Concerns. Retrieved 2017-10-27.
7. Colin Nicholas (2000). "The Orang Asli and the Contest for Resources. Indigenous Politics, Development and Identity in Peninsular Malaysia" (PDF). Center for Orang Asli Concerns & International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. ISBN 87-90730-15-1. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
8. "Basic Data / Statistics". Center for Orang Asli Concerns. Retrieved 2017-10-27.
9. Alberto Gomes (2004). Modernity and Malaysia: Settling the Menraq Forest Nomads. Routledge. ISBN 11-341-0076-0.
10. Julie Wong (14 May 2015). "From forest to plate: An introduction to Orang Asli cuisine". The Star. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
11. Kyōto Daigaku. Tōnan Ajia Kenkyū Sentā (2001). Tuck-Po Lye (ed.). Orang asli of Peninsular Malaysia: a comprehensive and annotated bibliography. Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. p. 60. ISBN 49-016-6800-5.
12. Sabihah Ibrahim (1989). "Universiti Malaya. Jabatan Antropologi dan Sosiologi". Hubungan etnik di kalangan Orang Asli: satu kajian etnografi terhadap orang Temiar di Kampung Chengkelik, RPS Kuala Betis, Kelantan. Jabatan Antropologi dan Sosiologi, Fakulti Sastera dan Sains Sosial, Universiti Malaya.
13. Siew Eng Koh (1989). "Universiti Malaya. Jabatan Antropologi dan Sosiologi". Orang Asli dan masyarakat umum: satu kajian etnografi terhadap komuniti Temiar di Kampung Merlung, rancangan pengumpulan semula [RPS] Kuala Betis, Kelantan. Jabatan Antropologi dan Sosiologi, Fakulti Sastera dan Sains Sosial, Universiti Malaya.
14. Angain Kumar (1–15 October 2014). "Tonggang: A Temiar Settlement" (PDF). Ipoh Echo. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
15. Earl of Cranbrook, ed. (2013). Key Environments: Malaysia. Elsevier. p. 286. ISBN 14-832-8598-7.

Further reading

• Benjamin, Geoffrey. 1966. "Temiar social groupings." Federation Museums Journal 11: 1–25. ISSN 0430-2435
• Benjamin, Geoffrey. 1967. "Temiar kinship." Federation Museums Journal 12: 1–25. ISSN 0430-2435
• Benjamin, Geoffrey. 1968. "Temiar personal names." Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 124: 99–134. ISSN 0006-2294 (print), ISSN 2213-4379 (online). JSTOR 27860916.
• Benjamin, Geoffrey. 1968. "Headmanship and leadership in Temiar society." Federation Museums Journal 13: 1–43. ISSN 0430-2435
• Benjamin, Geoffrey. 1993. "Temiar." In: Paul Hockings (ed.), Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 5: East and Southeast Asia, Boston: G. K. Hall / New York: Macmillan, pp. 265–273. ISBN 9780816118144
• Benjamin, Geoffrey. 2001. "Process and structure in Temiar social organisation." In: Razha Rashid & Wazir Jahan Karim (eds), Minority Cultures of Peninsular Malaysia: Survivals of Indigenous Heritage. Penang: Malaysian Academy of Social Sciences (AKASS), pp. 125–149. ISBN 9789839700770. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3115.9846.
• Benjamin, Geoffrey. 2014. Temiar Religion, 1964–2012: Enchantment, Disenchantment and Re-enchantment in Malaysia's Uplands. With a Foreword by James C. Scott. 68 figures. 470 pages. Singapore: NUS Press. ISBN 9789971697068 (paper covers)
• Jennings, Sue. 1985. "Temiar dance and the maintenance of order." In Society and the Dance, ed. Paul Spencer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 47–63.
• Jenning, Sue. 1995. Theatre, Ritual and Transformation: The Senoi Temiars. London: Routledge.
• Roseman, Marina. 1991. Healing Sounds from the Malaysian Rainforest: Temiar Music and Medicine. Berkeley: University of California Press.