STATE POLLS | The Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Association (Poasm) has decried a Facebook posting that they said made fun of indigenous tribe names.
The posting from a Facebook user known as “Puteri Balqis” featured a picture of people crowding around a replica of a Nuri helicopter decked in Perikatan Nasional (PN) blue with the PAS logo on the side.
The Facebook user included a caption that read, “The grass-cutting engine chopper received a warm welcome from the Sakai and Jakun people in Kelantan who wants to enter (the chopper), complete with curtains”.
However, Puteri Balqis later amended her posting, replacing the phrase "Sakai and Jakun people" with "bangsat (bastard) and stupid people".
Poasm deputy president Sakaria Awang reminded that Sakai and Jakun are names of actual indigenous tribes in Malaysia.
“I see that the issue of racism has become more critical.
“It is as if they do not know about the existence of Orang Asli in Malaysia. The other communities cannot use the word Sakai or Jakun to play around or as a joke,” Sakaria told Malaysiakini today.
He said there are a total of 18 Orang Asli groups in Malaysia in every state except for Perlis.
The words Sakai and Jakun have a long history of being used as slurs in Malaysia to refer to people who are unfamiliar with new or modern things.
The Facebook posting in question has over 1,200 likes and 1,600 comments as of the time of writing.
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