They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Shaq Koyok proves that so is a paintbrush. 

Shaq, a contemporary artist from the Temuan Orang Asli tribe, is known for merging art and activism into a glorious hybrid.

For many years now, he is a common face at protests, standing shoulder to shoulder with activists to demand equal rights for Orang Asli folk.

Additionally, through art, he frequently expresses the plight of the indigenous communities scattered across Malaysia with his bold brush strokes.

His work depicts gorgeous portraits of everyday Orang Asli people, with powerful stories that cling tightly to the canvas he paints on.

However, his firm grip of valiant activism did not occur overnight. It resulted from years of pent-up feelings and observations over the course of time. 

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The Early Days of Shaq Koyok

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Shaq hails from Pulau Kempas, Banting, and lived a typical Orang Asli upbringing.

The building blocks of his humble home consisted of twigs, leaves, and other jungle material- a generous offering from the surrounding forest perimeter.

He and his family had built their home with their bare hands – a product of their own effort, sweat, and tears. 

Members of the Orang Asli community are famously known for their skills in building houses with the most basic resources of nature.  

To fill their stomachs, a young Shaq would venture out to gather plants and crops.

“After school, I used to find our lunch in the jungle. I used to go fish in the stream and search for vegetables. Having a lot of siblings meant it was tougher to find enough food,” Shaq explained.

“To get to school we need to take the bus and we needed money. I got creative and sold extra vegetables in the market for cash,” he said proudly. 

With every plant or fruit plucked, it was ensured that all its parts were used to avoid wastage.

Utmost prudence was also exercised to ensure they only took what they needed from the forest, nothing more.

The idea of sustainability is a common buzzword in our modern world now but the indigenous communities of Malaysia have cradled this concept as a way of life from the beginning. 

Shaq’s village was not equipped with the basic trifecta of facilities. He grew up sans water, electricity, or proper roads.

Despite constant requests by the Orang Asli villagers for assistance on these sanitation requirements, they were commonly ignored.

Shaq would paint and complete schoolwork by the light of a humble oil lamp, only to find the next morning, that the colours on his art projects were a different tone than he intended.

“The kerosene lamp has a yellow glow that tricks my eyes as I choose the hues. In the morning, I usually find my art to be all grey!” said Shaq.

In sharing his story about his upbringing and culture, it is evident that Shaq holds a lot of pride in his identity and origins.  

He almost always wears a headdress of woven leaves, known as the tali dendang, at cultural shows and exhibitions that he attends.

He dons this special gear as a crown of appreciation for his ancestors and to symbolise that through him, their culture lives on and will not perish.

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Shaq Koyok’s Debut into the Art World

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Shaq manifests his identity powerfully through art.

Growing up, Shaq used to admire his brother’s art skills and strived to emulate them.

Shaq started drawing, painting, and learning about art in school. As he evolved with practice, his talents intensified.

His works bagged him numerous awards at local art competitions and in some instances, helped him to generate income too. He used to draw portraits of his teachers for a commission fee. 

Shaq found a sense of meaning and purpose as he gravitated towards the world of the arts. 

Each of his masterpieces was a point of self-reflection and culmination of the experiences he endured in life.

“Art is not just a rigid picture, it is a moving conversation,” he says.

To him, art is a powerful tool to spread awareness, and he has channeled his own talents to shine a light on the longstanding issues prevalent among the Orang Asli community.

He said that art is unique in that it can transcend language barriers, allowing him to communicate his feelings to anyone and everyone who beholds his creations.

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Being an Orang Asli ambassador for the arts 

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To convey the struggles of his community, Shaq decided to focus on painting only Orang Asli subjects.

He uses the mats made by his own mother as a canvas upon the canvas, a marker of his individuality and culture. 

Growing up, his family could never afford mattresses and his mother used to weave mats out of wild, fibrous leaves found in the jungle.

Painting on these mats reminds him of the love and dedication his mother has shown.

It also demonstrates how entwined nature is to the Orang Asli people, whose lives rely on materials primarily derived from the organic environment. 

“I want to immortalise my art and culture of weaving. When I am no longer here, I hope my art survives,” says Shaq. 

Shaq makes it a point to share a presentation of the stories and narratives etched in his art as each piece reveals the experiences of the Orang Asli community.

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Telling Orang Asli stories through Art

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Shaq’s piece depicting an Orang Asli man wearing headphones is one example of his people’s reality. 

Across this portrait in small fonts, there is a description of how stretches of land that belong to Orang Asli, had been repurposed to build airports and flightpath runways.

Even the highways leading to the airports had once belonged to the Orang Asli community.  

Whenever their ancestral roaming grounds were lost, Shaq’s people had no choice but to relocate.

Despite their resilience and strength, uprooting entire villages to a new location is not an easy feat.

After having lived for multiple generations in a particular forest environment, they are forced to move to a different and unfamiliar one. 

The farming ways they are used to may not be applicable anymore.

Peat forests with muddy forest grounds, for example, are not suited for agriculture, which is the most common means of livelihood for many Orang Asli. 

“In a new place, we have to find income, better economic activities, and new jobs.

“We used to depend on the forest around us but when we are forced to move away from it, what are we expected to rely on?” Shaq questions.

Without being able to plant and harvest crops, their food quantity decreases. Their income also shrinks as they are not able to earn from the sales of excess produce. 

“We get pushed deeper and deeper into the jungle. With no proper roads, it takes us days to leave the jungle.

“For example in Gua Musang, Kelantan, they are so rural it is so hard to even go to the shops,” Shaq explained.

Shaq added that moving to a new, unoccupied forest is also fraught with danger. 

In their original forest homes, the people knew the nooks and crannies of the forests well enough to stay away from zones occupied by ferocious wild animals.

“In unfamiliar territory, Orang Asli face the risk of being attacked by tigers, elephants, or panthers. It is really not safe!” Shaq explains.  

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Shining a light on painful truths

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Orang Asli communities are being systematically edged out of a world that had been theirs for generations.

“Then they are forced to adapt and cope with the stress of surviving in a completely alien environment.

“It is not easy to adapt to a new environment without any assistance or income.

“Imagine if the roles were reversed and city folk had to move to the jungle? Wouldn’t that be hard?” Shaq said.

Moving from a forest to the city is also similarly challenging. They begin to face mental health and economic issues.

In schools, Orang Asli children usually get bullied for being different from their peers, due to their minority culture and lifestyle.

“Kids in schools do not know about the Orang Asli, which creates a misunderstanding.

“When they see an Orang Asli that does not look like them, they call them names and bully them. 

“With that they stop attending, leading to an almost 30% dropout rate among Orang Asli children.”

The result is widespread hunger and unemployment being a common issue faced by Orang Asli, precisely because they are not equipped to tackle any of these challenges. 

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Advocating to protect Nature’s ecosystem

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In his iconic artwork titled Legacy and Nightmare of Moyang Bajos, Shaq juxtaposes Orang Asli subjects amidst a field of deforested land.

Far too many cases of villages and livelihoods have been stolen to satisfy capitalistic avarice and the Orang Aslis are untoward victims.

They are constantly haunted by a sense of insecurity, as even their lands that are labelled as a forest reserve, can be degazetted by the authorities at any time.

The Kuala Langat Forest Reserve, which is home to the Temuan tribe, for example, is in danger of being degazetted for economic development despite protests from environmental activists. 

Orang Asli identities are deeply rooted in their harmonious symbiosis with nature.

They are guardians who understand the importance of maintaining a balanced ecosystem.

Their legacy is the wisdom inherited from their ancestors, which emphasises preserving the vitality of trees, plants and the soil that shelter and provide for them.

Their animist beliefs emphasises that respect for nature also strengthens their ties to their ancestors. 

When elders pass on, the funerary rites are regarded as among the most sacred of their ritualistic beliefs.

Naturally, orang Asli burial grounds are considered inviolable and well kept by the community.

Each tribe’s identity and cultural beliefs are interlinked with the specific forest they come from.

Evacuating them is an act of severing the connection they have with their forefathers.

“It is not just culture and custom that we lose, it is our identity itself.

Orang Asli identity is tied to the land we live on. It is like being separated from your soul and spirit,” Shaq explains.

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Fighting for the survival of the Orang Asli and their diminishing identity

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Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia’s indigenous populations were already struggling to protect their identities from being effaced.

Recent generations of Orang Asli children usually have no association to their tribe’s identity in a new location and are forced to craft new heritage stories, said Shaq. 

Now, while the pandemic has affected everyone across the globe, the Orang Asli are suffering a worse fate.

Shaq tells that many have lost their jobs and have no income for food.

When volunteers attempted to donate supplies to them, most of it turned rotten by the time they reach communities located deep within remote villages.

“As the markets were not open, it was hard to sell their crops. They had no money at all,” he said.

“We have many organisations who wanted to distribute food for the Orang Asli but because of where they live, we faced delays in delivery. The food ended up becoming rotten!

Shaq is hoping to exhibit his works to more people, to educate them about the plights faced by Orang Asli.

“It is almost as if our identity is hidden, our history is hardly taught in schools,” he says. 

He hopes that fellow Malaysians would take the time to learn more about Orang Asli and support causes that will allow his people to thrive, with the pride of their heritage intact.

All images supplied by Shaq Koyok. 

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