The Malaysian government classifies the indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia as Orang Asli. These are 18 officially recognized tribes under the auspices of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. They are divided into 3 ethnic groups namely, Semang, Senoi and Proto-Malays, in which consists of 6 tribes in each. Such a division is conditional and is based primarily on the convenience of the state to perform administrative functions. The terms "Semang", "Senoi" and "Proto Malays" do not refer to specific ethnic groups or their ethnic identity. For the Orang Asli, they are of external origin. Each of the tribes is completely independent and does not associate itself with any wider ethnic category of the population. The three ethnic group division of the Orang Asli was developed by British colonizers in the early twentieth century according to European racial concepts. Due to the fact that the three ethnic groups differ in language, appearance and the nature of their traditional economy, Negritos were considered the most primitive race, Senois as more advanced, and Aboriginal Malays were perceived almost on an equal footing with Muslim Malays. Later, concepts that are deemed racist were rejected and the categories of Semang, Senoi and Proto Malay became markers of different models of cultural traditions and specific socio-economic complexes. The Senoi model, in particular, provides for the existence of autonomous communities, whose main means of subsistence are based on slash-and-burn agriculture, which on a small scale is supplemented with hunting, fishing, gathering, and the processing and sale of forest products. In this respect, they differ from the Semangs and the Proto-Malays. The Senoi people are also known as Sakai people among the locals. For the Malay people, the term sakai is a derogatory term in Malay language and its derivative word menyakaikan means "to treat with arrogance and contempt". However, for the Senoi people mensakai means "to work together". During the colonial British administration, Orang Asli living in the northern Malay Peninsula were classified as Sakai and to a point later it was also a term to refer to all Orang Asli. It is often misunderstood that Senoi people who have abandoned their own language for the Malay language are called the Blandas, Biduanda or Mantra people. The Blandas people are of the Senoi race from Melaka. The Blandas language or Bahasa Blandas, which is a mixture of Malay language and Sakai language; is probably used predating the first arrivals of the Malay people in Melaka.
Demography
The Senoi tribes live in the central part of the Malay Peninsula, and consist of six different groups, the Semai, Temiar, Mah Meri, Jah Hut, Semaq Beri and the Cheq Wong and have a total population of about 60,000. An example of a typical Senoi people, the purest of the Sakai are found in Jeram Kawan, Batang Padang District, Perak.
Language
The Senois speak various sub-branches of Aslian languages. The Aslian languages are divided into several branches namely Jahaic, Semelaic, Senoic and Jah Hut. Most Senois speak a branch of Semelaic, Senoic and Jah Hut branches. Almost all Senoic and Semelaic branches are spoken by Senoi peoples which is classified as Semang but speak a branch of Senoic languages and Semelai which is classified as Proto-Malay but speak a branch of Semelaic languages. Jah Hut language is an isolate within Aslian languages.
Kilton Stewart, who had travelled among the Senoi before the Second World War wrote about the Senoi in his 1948 doctoral thesis and his 1954 popular book Pygmies and Dream Giants. This work was publicised by parapsychologistCharles Tart and pedagogueGeorge Leonard in books and at the Esalen Institute retreat center, and in the 1970s Patricia Garfield describes use of dreams among Senoi, based on her contact with some Senoi at the aborigine hospital in Gombak, Malaysia in 1972. Later researchers were unable to substantiate Stewart's account and in 1985 G. William Domhoff argued that the anthropologists who have worked with the Temiar people report that although they are familiar with the concept of lucid dreaming, it is not of great importance to them, but others have argued that Domhoff's criticism is exaggerated. Domhoff does not dispute the evidence that dream control is possible, and that dream-control techniques can be beneficial in specific conditions such as the treatment of nightmares: he cites the work of the psychiatrists Bernard Kraków and Isaac Marks in this regard. He does, however, dispute some of the claims of the DreamWorks movement, and also the evidence that dream discussion groups, as opposed to individual motivation and ability, make a significant difference in being able to dream lucidly, and to be able to do so consistently.
