Is Bigfoot real? If it is then is it an animal or a supernatural being? These are two episodes that feature Li Kim’s search for Bigfoot in Malaysia. Alleged footprints of this illusive creature have been sighted in Johor, south of Peninsular Malaysia, in the recent years, notwithstanding the findings of Harold Stephens in Endau in 1974. A prominent Bigfoot researcher from North America, John Green, said that only scientific data and tabulation can be accepted and not the myths and legends of the natives. However, if natives from different continents unconnected by time and technology tell the same story, perhaps there is scientific truth in their legends. In this two-part adventure, Li Kim will explore the nocturnal habitat of Bigfoot with the natives while seeking answers from world-renowned primatologist, researchers and anthropologists on the existence of Bigfoot.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 In 1974, Harold Stevens, an American author known for his explorations of World War II
00:06 and other world travels and adventures,
00:08 discovered large footprints along the sandy riverbank of Sungai Kinchan in Johor, Malaysia.
00:13 The natives who were part of the expedition confirmed that the prints were that of the Orang Dalam
00:20 or what is commonly known as Bigfoot.
00:22 This became a landmark case internationally for many Bigfoot researchers
00:28 that sparked the possibility for this mysterious creature to exist in the rainforest of Malaysia.
00:33 But, is Bigfoot real?
00:35 [Music]
01:04 [Music]
01:18 Bigfoot, for me, is something that I have been studying on the side for the last 20 to 30 years.
01:26 Bigfoot connects us to something that is more than ordinary.
01:32 It connects us to something that is more than just what we are used to in life.
01:36 Because there is a high possibility he can be real.
01:41 But at the same time, it is still mysterious because no one has found an actual body yet.
01:47 Well, Bigfoot, Yeti, Yari in Australia, Chinese wild man in China, they have got different names.
01:55 They are all over the world really.
01:58 There are tales and stories about them.
02:01 I don't know whether it is an ancient memory from far back.
02:06 If there is, why don't we find it? It remains.
02:08 It doesn't quite make sense.
02:10 I am a romantic. I want there to be something out there.
02:13 As early as in the 1950s, there have been sightings of Bigfoot or the hairy giants
02:22 by rubber tappers in Perak and Johor in Malaysia.
02:26 Even as recent as 2014, there have been sightings near Endau Rumpin in Johor.
02:32 However, these eyewitness accounts have been explained by the wildlife department
02:37 as normal footprints of normal animals such as elephants and maybe even sun bears.
02:44 Although it is not overwhelming, but the evidence of Bigfoot existence
02:50 has been closely linked and associated with Orang Asli, or the native people
02:56 who reside near or in the forest where it is believed that there are many mystical creatures that exist.
03:03 In this episode, we will speak to Asian Bigfoot researchers, investigators, anthropologists,
03:09 scientists and even eyewitnesses who have had encounters of Bigfoot in Malaysia.
03:17 There is a perennial belief that the Bigfoot is a primate.
03:20 In Malaysia, it is referred to as the Orang Tua Jarang Gigi,
03:23 which means the old man with widespread teeth,
03:26 or they could be known as Orang Dalam or Datuk Genalil.
03:29 The Orang Asli or natives I have spoken to actually said that they are humans,
03:33 but interdimensional as in they can travel to the invisible realms.
03:37 In my research, I was introduced to two different tribes of Orang Asli,
03:41 they seem to have similar references to a giant-like creature in their belief systems.
03:46 But are these creatures the Bigfoot I am looking for?
03:50 Tog Adinkara from the Termia tribe is the shaman and village head
03:56 of an Orang Asli settlement in Guam, Musang, Kelantan.
03:59 He says that Uncle or Datuk Genalil is an important deity in their tribe.
04:04 It is the thunder god and it is formless.
04:07 He says he is like electricity, but in his dreams he comes to Adinkara as Bigfoot
04:13 with small bright red eyes.
04:15 He looks human as he walked upright with a pair of big feet, hairy and tall.
04:20 I was very surprised to see Uncle or Datuk Genalil in the village.
04:32 I was informed that Tog Adinkara will perform a Sewak,
04:39 a ceremony with singing, dancing and trancing to invoke the spirit of Uncle or Datuk Genalil.
04:45 Will the Malaysian Bigfoot show up during the ceremony?
04:48 [singing]
05:08 To understand Tog Adinkara better, I have Dr Marina Rosman,
05:12 an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist who has been working closely
05:16 with the Termia tribe in Kelantan for 30 years.
05:19 She is also the winner of the prestigious John Simon Gergenheim Fellowship for 1996.
05:24 What is tonight's Sewak about?
05:26 Tonight's Sewak is partly that we've asked for him to bring Uncle into our midst.
05:35 And I think it's a very powerful one.
05:38 And if you listen to the Sewak, a person sings the song that they've been given in a dream by Uncle.
05:46 He will usually give special kind of leaves and a special kind of flowers.
05:52 So you'll see in the Sewak that they're using the palm and they're also using a special flower.
05:59 And that flower they call bunga tambush is the name for it.
06:03 A different type of spirit will ask for different kind of flowers.
06:07 [singing]
06:36 [singing]
06:50 After two hours of trancing, dancing and singing,
06:52 we have yet to see or feel the presence of Uncle or Datuk Gernalew.
06:56 But something unusual did happen later during my interview with Tog Adinkara.
07:00 [music]
07:06 Is the presence here? Is Uncle has arrived?
07:09 No.
07:10 [shouting]
07:12 Before we started the interview with Tog Adinkara,
07:26 a gust of strong wind that is closely related to the presence of Uncle, the Thunder God, began to blow.
07:32 And Tog Adinkara responded in a weird manner.
07:35 Was he possessed by a spirit or did the Sewak really invoke the Uncle?
07:39 [music]
07:50 My interview with Tog Adinkara took a different turn
07:53 as it was difficult to get straightforward answers from him.
07:56 Is the Thunder God that terrorises the village the same as Bigfoot?
08:00 Has Uncle taken possession of Tog Adinkara or another type of spirit at play?
08:06 [shouting]
08:08 Is the presence here? Is Uncle has arrived?
08:14 No.
08:15 [music]
08:21 Who am I looking at?
08:22 [music]
08:51 [music]
09:14 You can't blink your eyes.
09:16 Don't blink your eyes.
09:19 Hold your step. Don't blink.
09:22 For what?
09:23 These eyes are the power of Uncle.
09:27 What is your understanding of Bigfoot?
09:29 Bigfoot is King Kong.
09:32 So is Dato' Gennalio like King Kong?
09:37 Dato' Gennalio is the same as Bigfoot.
09:40 Is like King Kong?
09:41 Yes. King Kong, Bigfoot.
09:47 And earlier Adinkara had explained that it has human form
09:51 with the small red eyes and the bearded face.
09:55 And then he said it's like King Kong.
09:57 Yes.
09:58 Bigfoot, King Kong.
10:01 How does this all relate to Bigfoot?
10:05 I mean, is Angkuk, in their culture, the Bigfoot?
10:12 I think Angkuk comes the closest to our comprehension of Bigfoot.
10:17 There have been times when he's explained and said,
10:20 "Actually, the feet are a little bigger."
10:22 But sometimes he's consistent and sometimes he's not.
10:27 And I think we got some of those inconsistencies
10:29 because he keeps saying he's like a person,
10:32 but he's also like King Kong, which is hairy all over,
10:35 and more like a gorilla.
10:37 [♪♪♪]
10:42 So you would say that in the context of what Adinkara
10:49 and his culture or his tribe, the Termiya tribe,
10:53 believes is that in what I'm looking for,
10:58 such as the stories of Bigfoot,
11:00 this is the closest that the Termiya tribes believe to be Bigfoot.
11:05 That's the closest that they would come.
11:08 Hey!
11:11 This segment has been rather interesting,
11:23 and I would actually say rather disappointing
11:27 because it is my observation
11:32 that maybe perhaps what they believe
11:35 or how they practice what they believe
11:37 may not be so aligned to the content that I'm looking for.
11:41 [shouting]
11:44 But nonetheless, I am appreciative of their time.
11:50 [chanting]
11:59 [shouting]
12:02 Dr Marina Roseman is a highly respected author and academic,
12:12 although she is certainly not a Bigfoot researcher,
12:15 nor has she conducted deep studies of the Bigfoot mythology
12:18 in the Orang Asli culture.
12:20 Despite her explanations of the Sewang,
12:22 I cannot deny my scepticism
12:24 when I witness it in the context of Bigfoot research.
12:27 I cannot be sure that the spirit present that night was Ngkuk,
12:30 and if Ngkuk is really Bigfoot.
12:33 Therefore, I would like to seek the opinions of other experts
12:36 like Mr Kamal, an anthropologist from University of Malaya,
12:39 to hopefully shed more insight.
12:41 My experience thus far with interviewing
12:46 or getting to know Orang Asli,
12:48 I find certain ways of behaviour,
12:52 like how they conduct the Sewang.
12:55 I guess I come from the city, and it looks very bizarre to me.
12:59 And artificial.
13:00 And artificial, correct.
13:02 And I sometimes suspect the authenticity of it.
13:06 There is an element of Sewang,
13:09 which is actually a communion or union of the spiritual world
13:13 with the living world in a common space.
13:16 So you have the shaman going to a trance,
13:19 visiting his spirit familiar, the spirit that guides him,
13:23 and there are other spirit helpers that come down,
13:26 together with the community,
13:28 and working towards healing this person.
13:30 I don't see that as superficial or artificial in any sense.
13:35 I believe they believe in it.
13:37 But there's more to it.
13:48 The Orang Asli commonly know him and regard him as Orang Dua Jarang Gigi.
13:54 And to them, he is very real.
13:56 Yes.
13:57 And what is your take on that?
13:59 The impression I get, yes, they believe it exists.
14:03 But it's more than just an existence through mythology.
14:06 It's reinforced with incidences that happened today.
14:10 There was one child who got lost a few years ago somewhere in Pahang,
14:13 and they believe that he was hidden by this ancestor, a giant.
14:18 From your time that you have been researching and working with Orang Asli,
14:27 have you seen anything?
14:29 No, of course not.
14:30 Even maybe a shadow?
14:32 So does that give you doubt?
14:34 No, because I see reality as constructed according to the cultural norms
14:39 that fit our sense of normal.
14:41 And yes, so if I was raised in a society where these mythological creature figures
14:47 exist and are given form, then yes, they would be part of my reality.
14:52 I think my science would tell me we don't know enough to say yes or no.
14:56 Some community members talk about it as eyewitness.
14:59 So I think we shouldn't discount eyewitness accounts.
15:04 Is Bigfoot just a spirit being or is it a physical being?
15:07 Are we forcing our understanding of the Western Bigfoot into the fairy tales of the Orang Asli?
15:12 I do not doubt that there are many stories from diverse cultures
15:16 that point to almost similar descriptions of a giant primate.
15:19 But are they talking about the same thing?
15:21 But the shape of the paws was like bears, but the bigger ones were double in size.
15:26 It was about 11 inches.
15:29 In fact, he knows that we are talking about him now.
15:32 Many of us have seen his footprint everywhere.
15:36 [Music]
15:39 Is the presence here? Is Ngoc has arrived?
15:52 There's a high possibility he can be real.
15:56 But at the same time, it's still mysterious because no one has found an actual body yet.
16:03 When I was in Johor, I also came across news reporting of strange giant footprints
16:07 appearing in Mr Liu's farm at Kampong Gudanggaram in December 2013.
16:12 I am curious although it was later clarified by the Wildlife Department to be prints of tapir.
16:17 I wanted to know more from Mr Liu.
16:20 Initially, I thought it was very strange when I discovered these large footprints.
16:27 I decided to inform the press so I could find out more.
16:31 They will help spread the news and more people can share their opinions with me.
16:35 The footprints started from that side.
16:37 They went opposite and then to the other side.
16:40 And from that side, you can cut across to Ayapanas.
16:44 This man-made stream is 8 feet deep.
16:48 Based on the description of the prints, I was told that the tapir was about 500 kilos.
16:53 How could it jump across without falling into the water?
16:57 And if it did fall into the water, it would have drowned.
17:01 These tapirs did not destroy our plantation and crops.
17:07 They just passed by quietly.
17:09 The tapir's feet were like wild boars but the shape of the paws was like bears.
17:15 The smaller ones were the size of my palm but the bigger ones were double in size.
17:20 It was about 11 inches.
17:23 One, two, three, four, five.
17:27 And the print looks like this.
17:29 There is a deep indentation in the middle.
17:32 Well, it's not logical but I wouldn't dare to challenge their professionalism.
17:40 In the course of my research, I also came across another story in Johor about Bigfoot sightings.
17:47 I was introduced to the children of the late Bapak Kais and Orang Poyang or Shaman of the Jakun tribe in Johor.
17:54 Bapak Kais was claimed to be a powerful healer, having died six times
17:58 and revived back to life by what the natives understand to be the mystical Bigfoot or the Orang Tua Jarang Gigi.
18:05 The fascinating thing about this family is that for three generations,
18:09 they had a rather amicable relationship with Bigfoot.
18:12 Let's find out more.
18:16 So, Orang Tua Jarang Gigi or how we respectfully call him as Datuk Ulu Paya is a human like us.
18:22 But he is an ancient man.
18:25 He is tall, hairy and has superpowers to help my grandfather and father in many things like healing,
18:31 gathering woods and crops in the forest and to protect them.
18:35 After listening to the interesting account of Bapak Kais by his son Pak Acai,
18:42 I contacted Dr. Andrew Hill, an anthropologist who wrote a comprehensive paper about Bapak Kais and his tribe.
18:48 I wanted to find out if during his research period in the 1970s,
18:52 did he see or hear about the Jakun Bigfoot known as Orang Tua Jarang Gigi or Datuk Ulu Paya.
18:59 Dear Lee Kim, thank you for the message.
19:02 I don't recall that name Orang Tua Jarang Gigi,
19:06 though Datuk Ulu Paya does sound familiar,
19:09 as one of the names that I heard when they made invocations to the spirits.
19:13 There were a number of different kinds of spirit beings who the Orang Ulu revered
19:19 and with whom the Poyang makes contact.
19:22 What you call Orang Tua may be what Bapak Kais referred to as his Sahabat,
19:30 one of the Poyang's two kinds of spirit guides who is a friend, a divine being.
19:36 However, I never heard of them being seen in human-like or hairy form.
19:41 Based on Dr. Andrew Hill's explanation,
19:44 he has never heard of any association between the modern view of Bigfoot
19:48 with the natives' portrayal of Datuk Ulu Paya or Orang Tua Jarang Gigi.
19:53 To find out further about these differing interpretations,
19:56 I have decided that we should speak with more witnesses from Bapak Kais' family.
20:01 My research team went to Kampong Kudung to meet with another son of Bapak Kais,
20:05 known as Pak Satay, to find out about his Bigfoot encounters.
20:09 I want to find out if Orang Tua Jarang Gigi is really Bigfoot
20:14 or is it a supernatural being that is common amongst the tribe.
20:17 Orang Tua is very tall, about 9 to 11 feet and hairy.
20:22 His feet are huge, at least double the size of a human.
20:26 And we must always respect him because he has powers and magical abilities.
20:31 In fact, he knows that we are talking about him now.
20:34 Many of us have seen his footprints everywhere.
20:37 Orang Tua is not a monkey or an ape.
20:41 He is a man, but a man of two dimensions.
20:44 One that is visible and another that is invisible.
20:47 I have seen him a few times only when I followed my grandfather into the forest.
20:52 He does not like to be disturbed, but when our intention and heart is pure,
20:56 he will help us when we ask him.
20:58 Orang Tua wants his privacy and does not like strangers.
21:02 My grandfather and father have a special friendship with him
21:05 and that's why we can meet him, but as that is also very rare.
21:09 He is a guardian of the forest and protector of the Orang Pasir.
21:13 I found Pak Satay's stories to be highly entertaining,
21:16 but how come no one else has seen the Orang Tua Jarang Gigi?
21:20 And that's when we asked the million dollar question.
21:23 Can we hike into the forest to meet Orang Tua Jarang Gigi or Bigfoot?
21:28 Pak Satay hesitated.
21:30 He said that it is not easy to meet the Orang Tua Jarang Gigi
21:33 and it is not up to us to demand when we want to see him.
21:37 After meeting Pak Satay, I would say that at this moment,
21:42 he would be my best lead to meet with Bigfoot.
21:46 However, we do need to wait to see whether he will be granted permission
21:53 to take us to meet Bigfoot.
21:55 So far, what I've discovered could be, shall I say, not so exciting.
22:02 But in light of the strong belief in the existence of Bigfoot,
22:07 amongst many people, I must still continue my pursuit of Bigfoot.
22:12 Will we witness evidence of Bigfoot?
22:16 Will he come to us in sound?
22:18 Will we see him?
22:20 Or will he continue to exist, real for some and a mystery for others?
22:29 [♪♪♪]
22:33 [♪♪♪]
22:37 [♪♪♪]
22:41 [♪♪♪]
22:44 [♪♪♪]
23:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]