Traditional Knowledge on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants as Important Culture and Heritage of the Orang Asli, Peninsular Malaysia

Our socioeconomic surveys of three of the subethnic groups of Orang Asli (indigenous people) in Peninsular Malaysia indicated that traditional knowledge (TK) on the use of medicinal and aromatic plants has been and will continue to be a valuable source of culture and heritage for future generations. To date, sources of TK are Puyang, Bomoh, village midwives, mothers, Batin (headmen), and others (e.g., family members and dreams). According to the aforementioned studies, TK on the use of medicinal and aromatic plants usually is gained from parents and relatives, as well as through trial and error. Because such means do not guarantee the continuity of such knowledge, a research team from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2007-2010) and Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011) embarked on a project entitled “Documentation of TK on medicinal and aromatic plants used by the Orang Asli.” The project’s key activities included development of an awareness and capacity-building programme for selected subethnic groups, collection and preparation of samples for herbarium specimens, database development, and a socioeconomic survey of households. The project is considered timely as such concerted efforts to document and at the same time to train the Orang Asli have never been attempted before. Above all, such efforts will not only ensure the sustainability of TK as the culture and heritage of the Orang Asli but also offer protection especially when one refers to issues of intellectual property rights. This paper, therefore, highlights some results from the socioeconomic surveys related to TK as the culture and heritage of the Orang Asli as well as other pertinent activities that led to the successful implementation of the project.