KITA Discourse Series No. 2/2018: Batek, Malays & Chinese: Does Tourism Work with Multi-Ethnic Community?

In my PhD research project, I looked at the relationship between local communities and tourism development, and how tourism and natural resources were negotiated between them. My case study was in Taman Negara Pahang, 4,343km2 biodiversity-rich tropical rainforest in Peninsular Malaysia that attracts more than 80,000 visitors per year. Only after I started my pilot study, the topic of multi-ethnic community emerged as I realized the very different ethnic groups involved in the local tourism development: the indigenous Batek (one of Orang Asli communities), local Malays and Malaysian Chinese. From 2014 – 2017, I lived with the Batek and the Malays in many occasions to get their insider views towards tourism and ethnic relations in Taman Negara, and I also became friends with the Chinese travel agent.

My presentation will first discuss the complexity, the roles and relationship between the Batek, Malays and Chinese in the day-to-day running of tourism business in Taman Negara. For the second part, I will present a core chapter of my thesis: ‘Voice from the jungle: Orang Asli Batek on tourism, modernization and relationship with outsiders’. I hereby summarized the overall contents into three simple research questions: How far did these heterogeneous ethnic groups in Taman Negara had conflicts in negotiating tourism resources, or was it more of a successful case of multi-ethnic collaboration? Were the indigenous Batek marginalized? How will the findings from Taman Negara provide new perspectives to the theory of community-based tourism (CBT) and the future tourism planning in Malaysia as a multi-cultural country?

Keng Hang Frankie FAN (范敬恆) is PhD Candidate in The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, in Geography and Resource Management. He is expected to graduate in summer 2018 with his Phd thesis entitled “Tourism and Multi-ethnic Community: A Case Study of Taman Negara Rainforest, Malaysia”. His research interests are anchored in ethnic issues, community-based tourism, indigenous people, sustainable rainforest and Malaysia.