BY ELROI YEE, MARYAM ZAINOL, SHANJEEV REDDY and LIM MAY LEE
“HURRY up and gather everyone, there are important people here who want to see you,” said a young doctor, snapping his fingers at Kurup.
We were in front of Kurup’s house, along the Sungai Kejar in the Royal Belum State Park. Kurup is the orang asli man who lost his granddaughter Malini to sickness last month. We were there the morning the young girl passed away, and later witnessed the burial rituals.
Malini’s death, along with the accounts of many more child deaths from an illness known to locals as serawan, were documented in a report by R.AGE on the plight of the orang asli in Sungai Kejar. Read more