a. Summary of project goals with two sentences.

Hello Seletar! has raised the acknowledgment of Orang Seletar through the preparation of the book contents and social media. On the other hand, it was even recognized by Think City, a few professionals from the culture industry, and warm-hearted people to propose books and awareness campaigns for them. 

b. Did other fund-raising efforts contribute to your projects? What were they?

In order to collect more fundraising, social media has been used as a medium to promote our project to get more engagement. Not only that, Hello Seletar! also try asking for support from the related community to Orang Seletar, such as YB Liew Chin Tong who is the current Perling State Assemblyman, Ms. Wong Yun Yun from Natural Classroom, a community that once educated the environment topic in Kampung Sungai Temon, she also helped to share our post on her social platform so we also received fund from her fans. 

Hello Seletar! have received RM1,000 from YB Liew Chin Tong, RM4,801.86 from Graduate Studies and Research (IGSR) from Southern University College, and RM19,010 from Think City to organize an awareness campaign.

c. Provide details about how your project actually worked.

First, Hello Seletar! will publish a magazine-style book that will focus on Orang Seletar’s history, arts, and culture. 2000 copies of the books would be printed out and given out 1,417 books to libraries, universities, cafes, and other communities then the remaining will be sold, and all the money earned from the book sales will go back to the Orang Seletar communities.

To commemorate the release of "Hello Seletar!", a book launch will be held around Mid January. The representative of Orang Seletar, our school’s lecturers and president, our sponsors, as well as people who have been involved and supported our project will be invited to join us for this press conference. An introduction of the culture of Orang Seletar will be done at this book launch and will announce more details on our upcoming awareness campaign in partnership with Think City.

With the suggestion from the judges, Hello Seletar! has corporate the Think City program to organize an awareness campaign on Orang Seletar. In this campaign, we will focus on promoting the culture of Orang Seletar to the public. For instance, a photography exhibition, videography session, performances by Orang Seletar, workshops on arts and crafts by Orang Seletar, and food sessions will be displayed. This will be a two-day event at Sungai Segget in Bandaraya Johor Bahru.

d. Were there unanticipated difficulties? Budget constraints?

There were many challenges during the project. Firstly, it is contacting with orang Seletar. During the process,a few key persons were contacted to have interviews and bring us to have tours and experience their life. But some key people are quite hard to contact because they were very busy. Our time basically clashes hence this led to the delay of our project. Our team even went to their house to find them but we still couldn't find them. Not only that, all of us even found out that their graves have been dug by some organization, which led to orang Seletar being very angry and affecting our progress as our key person to interview are affected.

Second, is the weather. There were a few times that we went to the village and it started raining. As our activities were mainly outdoors, due to the rain, we weren’t able to do anything. The rain also affected the interview session as the rain sound was too loud, and we couldn’t record the sound.

Furthermore, the journey to the other village. There was no clear location of their village, Google Maps was used and also asked  the locals to find their exact location. Most of their villages are located very deep hidden by the sea. 

Finally, is time management internally. All of us are students from different faculties of different batches. Time between the members are quite hard to co-operate. It is hard for us to arrange a time for meetings and to go to the villages together. As all of us are all having classes and some have just graduated and started working, time for us is very limited but had tried our best to manage our time wisely and cooperate with one another.

As for budget retraining, the expenses now are higher than our initial budget. Other grants have been applied to cover the additional expenses, such as our school’s internal research grant called, the Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP), and find sponsorships.

e. Language or cultural barriers?

Our team do face some language barriers as their mother tongue is Bahasa Seletar, but we spoke Bahasa Melayu. During our conversations or when interviewing with them, some words are quite hard to understand, and sometimes they couldn't explain the word. But for most of it, it was still ok.

f. What worked well? What didn’t work well?

Hello Seletar has worked well in communicating with professionals and organizations in order to get their support. We got supported by YB Liew Chin Tong, Think City, and some organizations that are helping the Orang Seletar community like Natural Classroom. We recently also received a message from a Master’s student from NTU Singapore who is writing her Master’s thesis on the language of Orang Seletar, said that wants to provide us with the information that she had researched for us as her support to our project.

In the project, the team lacked proper time management and did not complete the work within the stipulated time.  It was also found that our communication with Orang Seletar was not very good.  When asked to arrange an interview with the “ketua kampung”, there was no response. Due to the influence of internal and external factors, the progress of the entire project was delayed.

g. How many people benefited or will benefit from your project? Who are these people?

About 2400 Orang Seletar from all 9 villages. The history, arts, and culture of Orang Seletar will be recorded and preserved in a book. Furthermore, all the money earned by the book sales will also give back to the Orang Seletar community.

The readers are also our beneficiaries. They will get to understand the art and culture of Orang Seletar and the problem they faced.

Not only that, the project committee of Hello Seletar also benefit from this project. From this project, from planning to executing the book, then to organize the event, is a process that the Hello Seletar! team has gained a lot of experience. The whole Hello Seletar! team has also experienced the Orang Seletar life and learned about their art and culture.

h. What is the long-term impact and sustainability of this project? Is there a future for your project?

The book itself is already a sustainable way that will record the history, arts, and culture. The book will be distributed to libraries, universities, cafes, and communities to let the whole of Malaysia get to read the book.

Hello Seletar! is not just publishing the book. Hello Seletar has partnered Think City to organize an awareness campaign with the book. With the use of  book and the awareness campaign, it can let more people get to know about the beautiful culture of Orang Seletar.

Hello Seletar! truly believe that our project has a future. This project has been praised and supported by outsiders and organizations such as Think City. From publishing a book to now organizing an awareness campaign. 

a.In several paragraphs, address each of the following questions:

i. How does or will your project contribute to happiness? Short-term? Long-term?

To some Orang Seletar, preserving their history, arts, and culture is not their main priority, but to some, it is their hearts and souls. By helping them to preserve their culture, we can help sustain their culture longer as they will help a book with their culture and will not be forgotten. 

Short term goal for Hello Seletar! is to use these books as an introduction to the public about Orang Seletar. Let the public get to know about them, and learn about their history, arts, and culture. 

For our long-term goals, Hello Seletar! wish that their culture can be preserved by having a book to record their current culture. Not only that, when someone hears the name Orang Seletar, no one will feel strange.

ii. Has your project changed the way you think about the world? How has it changed you?

During the process, the team has  found out that their living condition is very terrible. After witnessing their living condition, it’s hard believe that there are still places with these bad conditions. From this, all of us should be more appreciative for what we have. Things that we take for granted maybe are things that people need like clean water. For them, having clean water and financial support for living is already an issue. They wouldn’t have time to care for other things. So for us, as we are capable to help, spreading this awareness and let people know about them and their current situation is all what we can do.

b. Complete this section with a one to two sentence personal statement, suitable for use as a quotation, addressing how and why this project was valuable and what was the most important thing you learned as a result. (Indicate student’s name for quote attribution.)

Asciutto Jonathan

"Although it was very tough it was all worth it. Hope my small contribution can make a huge impact on this world."

Lee Boon Chong

"It's been a very challenging process, but I'm still grateful for the new experiences this project has given me."

Pang Ginnie

“Everything has an end, there's nothing we can do about it. Through the project, I realized there are, in fact, things we can do. We might not be able to stop it from ending, but we can at least cherish the fleeting moment.”

Yeo Yen Ru

“It's an honour to join "Hello Seletar!". For me, this event is meaningful since it brings out the issue of Orang Asli, and aims to raise awareness among the government and Malaysian about their existence. I fully hope that Hello Seletar! could help them in getting what they need and upgrades their life quality as soon as possible.”

Brian Bong

“Understanding the life of the people of Seletar had given me a sense of culture and a warm atmosphere.”

Renee

“In this project, I learned about the customs and living habits of Orang Seletar. Let me know that there are still aborigines in Malaysia. Their lives are really free and comfortable.”

Tan Zhi Wei

“It's my great honor to participate in this project. It is hoped that Hello Seletar will let more people know about this group and help them improve their living environment.”

Madeleine

“Lots of knowledge was gained during the period of time for the project and am definitely gonna remember everything I have obtained.”

Wong Zhe Huay

“We are Malaysians, we should grow together in suitable benefit, not matter in education, economic or social value.”

Khor Jing

“Enrich the humanistic culture and enrich the warmth of the world.”

Xin Wei

“This project has given me another aspect to think about in terms of my work and social issues, and has allowed me to meet a group of students with their own talents in different fields.”

Seng Khoon

“This project is meaningfulness for our societies because as Malaysia is a multiethnic country. Despite we are still students, our duties is to let community recognizes them and get to know each other, such as culture and belief..”

Lixon

“I believe what we do now is more than just a project and I'm really glad that I am part of this amazing work.