Malaysia Gifts

Malaysia Aboriginal gifts – Wood carving

In a plural society like Malaysia, the existence of Orang Asli art complements the country's history and heritage. The Orang Asli, as the original inhabitants of Malaysia, provide the foundation for art and culture in Malaysia.

Carey Island is well-known for the unique Orang Asli or aboriginal community known as the Mah Meri. This island, located about 40 kilometers from the capital city, in the southern part of Selangor Darul Ehsan.
The Mah Meri have assimilated into modern life with jobs in the nearby plantations and farms but they retain their unique culture and way of life. Apart from exhibitions of their traditional dance and music, the Mah Meri are particularly known for their wood carving which is made from a kind of swamp hardwood known as "Nyireh Batu".

The Mah Meri are from the Senoi racial group and most of them are animists. They believe in ancestral spirits which they call "Moyang", "Hantu" and "Bes". Because of their different habitats, their environmental experience helps produce artworks with different chracteristics. The Mah Meri live along the coast of Selangor, that is the reason why most of their carvings are based on the mysteries of the sea and the beings that live in and on the surface of the deep.

The process of carving takes a long time because each item must retain the original shape created by an earlier carver. This does not mean making direct copies without any variations.
Each artwork has its own mythological story told by the medicine man or the shaman (moyang). The story helps the childlike mind to understand the secrets of life and nature without the use of abstract reasoning. Through myths and beliefs in the spirits, they are able to create their concept of cosmology. The belief in ancestral spirits has made the Orang Asli more creative compared to other communities.

In the Orang Asli community, the character represented by a carving is not owned by particular individual. A carver establishes his identity by his mastery and expertise in using the medium to produce a difficult shape.

Although without formal training, the Orang Asli carvers have produced impressive works of art. Almost all their artwork shows an awareness of the formalistic elements where space, line, form and shape are combined by the sculptors spontaneously and naturally to produce a harmonious piece.