Kuala Lumpur District: Report Forwarded to Government by Mr E.J. Roe, Acting Assistant District Officer. Facsimile reprint. With a note S.K. Manickam
This is a facsimile reprint of a report by E.J. Roe, Acting Assistant District Officer of Kuala Lumpur, originally published in the Selangor Journal (1897), documenting the population, distribution, and economic conditions of the Orang Asli (referred to as “Sakeis”) in the Kuala Lumpur District.
Summary
The report provides a census of known Orang Asli encampments in the mukims of Petaling, Ulu Klang, and Batu, totalling no more than 125 individuals, with detailed breakdowns by location, sex, and age (p. 127). Roe describes their nomadic hunting habits, their seasonal return to fixed encampments for the durian season, and the economic arrangements surrounding durian dusuns following Circular 13 of 1895, which introduced government auction sales in place of private barter (p. 128). He notes that approximately $800 was paid to the Sakeis after a government tithe was deducted, with an additional $422 from private contracts, and that the total annual value of their claimed dusuns was about $1,700 in 1897 (p. 128). Roe concludes that the group showed no inclination toward settled agriculture, that Raja Laut held considerable influence over the older men, and that in general appearance the Sakeis closely resembled Malays (p. 129).