Evidence of early human occupation of the Peninsula includes prehistoric artifacts and cave paintings such as the Tambun rock art. The Orang Asli kept to themselves until the first traders from India arrived in the first millennium CE. Living in the interior, they bartered inland products like resins, incense, woods and feathers for salt, cloth and iron tools.
The rise of early civilization in the Peninsula, together with later Hindu-Buddhist kings and subsequent Islamic Malay sultanates system during the common era forever revolutionized the dynamics of Malay Peninsular society. With the easement of mobility and contact between various groups of people, the walls that separated the myriad of historical Austroasiatic and Austronesian tribal communities who once lived across the peninsula were dismantled, being gradually drawn and integrated into the Malay society, language, identity, culture and belief system.
The Malayanized tribes and communities would later be part of the ancestors of present-day Malay people. Other smaller, closely related tribes, often lived further inland compared to their coastal cousins managed to be spared from the Malayanization process due to their secluded geographical location and nomadic and semi-nomadic lifestyle. Hence, preserving and developing their own endemic language, customs and pagan rituals. Some of these Orang Asli groups were not living in complete isolation from their Malayanized brethren as they engaged with economic dealings and trading with Malays.
In the late 18th to 19th centuries, some Orang Asli groups suffered raids by the Malay and Batak forces who perceived them to be of lower in status. Orang Asli settlements were sacked, with adult males being systematically executed while women and children being held captive and later sold as slaves. However, the relationship between the Malays and Orang Asli was not always hostile, as many other groups enjoyed peaceful and cordial relation with their Malay neighbors. Based on historical records, the enslavement of the negrito tribes commenced as early as 724 AD, during the early contact of the Malay Srivijaya empire. Negrito pygmies from the southern forests were enslaved with some being exploited until modern times.
The founding of British settlements brought further foreign influence into the lives of Orang Asli. Christian missionaries began preaching gospels to the Orang Asli, while anthropologists began conducting research on them.
During the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) many Orang Asli villages became strategic locations due to their secluded jungle locations which were frequented by the communist guerrillas of the Malayan National Liberation Army. Due to their perceived support for communist guerrillas, many Orang Asli were forcibly transferred to the so-called "new-village" system where they were sent to live in newly-constructed settlements under the Briggs' Plan. The operations concerning the Orang Asli were cancelled after many of them started to succumb to disease. Two administrative initiatives were introduced to highlight the importance of the Orang Asli, as well to protect their identity. The Department of Aborigines was established in 1950 and the Aboriginal People's Ordinance was enacted in 1954. After independence, development of the Orang Asli became a prime objective of the government. In 1961 a policy was adopted to integrate the Orang Asli into the wider Malaysian society.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Malaysia experienced a period of sustained growth characterized by modernization, industrialization and lande development, which resulted in encroachments on Orang Asli land. In response to this encroachment, the Orang Asli mobilized and formed the Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Association (POASM) which has given them a stronger voice and greater visibility. Orang Asli are now known as Orang Kita or our people following the introduction of "One Malaysia" concept by Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia.
