Ci Yan Sara Loh

CI YAN SARA LOH, then a graduate student at University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, was awarded funding in April 2023 to aid research on “Finding Resilience in Difference: Orang Asli Indigenous Knowledge, Climate-Exacerbated Disasters and Development in the Langat River Basin, Peninsular Malaysia,” supervised by Dr. Jonathan Padwe. December 2021, usually the Northeast monsoon season, saw unprecedented rainfall in the Peninsular Malaysia West coast. Tropical Depression 29W took an unexpected turn, causing four days of continuous rain, which resulted in severe flooding across Malaysia. Selangor’s districts suffered the most due to their denser, urbanized environment; and unpreparedness for severe flooding. Many Temuan Orang Asli, whose homes and ancestral lands are in Selangor’s Langat River Basin, were among the worst hit, and the last to receive aid. Yet, they were more prepared than other communities and relied on local knowledge and practices prior to the arrival of aid. Three years on, they continue to undergo a slow socioeconomic, infrastructural and emotional recovery. These impacts are compounded by yearly monsoonal floods, rapid development surrounding their ancestral lands, as well as the unpredictability of climate change impacts. In addition to the existing social, economic and political vulnerabilities associated with being Orang Asli. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, policy and media analysis, this project examines how Temuan disaster resilience is entangled with development, climate-exacerbated flooding and indigenous justice. What practices and knowledge guide Temuan flood management? How do intersectionality and power dynamics affect flood vulnerabilities? How are Temuan experiences of flooding shaping and shaped by broader indigenous advocacy? The grantee posits that local flood management practices and knowledge allow the Temuan to assert their own forms of Indigenous disaster resilience.