COUNTRY FILE · ASIA & THE MIDDLE EAST
Cryptids of Malaysia
What cryptids are in Malaysia? The best-known are Orang Mawas and Batutut (Người Rừng).
Malaysia’s rainforests are among the oldest on Earth, and the deep jungles of the peninsula and Borneo have always been full of stories. Orang Asli communities of the peninsula tell of a towering, hairy forest being they call hantu jarang gigi, and Malay folklore crowds the jungle and the night with ghosts and spirits. In English-language cryptozoology the peninsula’s giant is the orang mawas, and Borneo contributes the batutut, small forest people linked to unexplained human-like tracks in Sabah.
Cryptids reported in Malaysia
HOMINID · 2005
Orang Mawas
Endau-Rompin and the forests of Johor
Malaysia’s “Bigfoot”: a towering, hairy forest giant of Johor whose reported 2005 sighting sparked an official state expedition in 2006.
REGIONAL LEGEND
HOMINID · 1974
Batutut (Người Rừng)
Central Highlands of Vietnam and the forests of northern Borneo
Vietnam’s “forest people” – upright, hairy wildmen reported by highland villagers, wartime soldiers and a state-backed search that began in 1974.
REGIONAL LEGENDThe legends of Malaysia
The mawas became national news in late 2005, when fish-farm workers near a forest reserve in southern Johor said they had seen three of the creatures and footprints up to 45 centimetres long were photographed. Johor’s national parks officials investigated, a hotline was opened, and in January 2006 the state’s chief minister announced a scientific expedition into likely areas including Endau-Rompin National Park – while insisting the animals must not be harmed. A newspaper claim that April that a “baby Bigfoot” had been captured near Kota Tinggi was flatly denied by the wildlife department, and no evidence ever emerged.
Malaysia also has a lake monster of sorts. Tasik Chini in Pahang, a chain of freshwater lakes surrounded by forest, is the home in local legend of a dragon or serpent, the Naga Sri Gumum, and the lakeside Orang Asli Jakun community still tells its story. Visitors with cryptids in mind head for Endau-Rompin on the Johor–Pahang border, the forests around Kota Tinggi, Tasik Chini and the rainforests of Sabah.
Hotspots
Ancient lowland rainforest on the Johor–Pahang border, the focus of the 2006 state expedition for the mawas.
Forested district of southern Johor at the centre of the 2005–2006 sightings and rumours.
Forest-ringed freshwater lake said in legend to be home to the dragon Naga Sri Gumum.
Northern Borneo forests where the batutut, or small forest people, are said to leave human-like tracks.
Sightings timeline
- November–December 2005The fish-farm workers’ sighting Orang Mawas
Three workers said they saw a family of three huge, hairy creatures while clearing land for a fish pond. Footprints up to 45 cm long were photographed and the story made national headlines.
- December 30, 2005Park officials investigate Orang Mawas
Johor National Parks director Hashim Yusoff surveyed the site and wildlife authorities discussed setting up camera traps, while the Malaysian Nature Society said many earlier sightings had gone unreported for fear of ridicule.
- January 2006An official expedition is announced Orang Mawas
Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman confirmed a dedicated expedition to search likely locations, including Endau-Rompin, and a hotline was opened for the public to report sightings.
- April 20, 2006The ‘baby Bigfoot’ denial Orang Mawas
After Berita Harian reported that wildlife officers had darted and caught a young Bigfoot, the Wildlife and National Parks Department’s director-general said no such operation had taken place.
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