KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer has blasted the government for its lackadaisical attitude when it comes to respecting the rights of the Orang Asli. He said both the federal and state governments were guilty.
Anthony Augustine, who heads the Bar Council's Orang Asli Affairs Committee, said the government needed to set up a body of legal experts to tend to Orang Asli concerns or else their representation in court would remain poor.
He complained that laws were not being clarified to match what the courts had ruled on the question of native land rights.
He said: “The highest court in the country respects natives' land rights; so why can't the government?"
Augustine was the legal adviser to the Task Force on Orang Asli Land Rights under the now ousted Pakatan-led Perak government.
He said Perak had been at the forefront of Orang Asli protection ever since it passed the Orang Asli Protection Ordinance in 1939, the first such law enacted in Malaysia.
“When they enacted the National Land Code in 1965, they must surely have known about Act 134, the Aboriginal Peoples Act in 1954," he said.
“So again, the government did not catch up.
"The government says, 'We want to give you this land.' But the Orang Asli are saying, 'You cannot give us this land, because you can't give us something that is already ours. Just recognise our right over it.'”
'Case of failed integration'
Unity, it appears, has emboldened the Orang Asli of late. The different tribes once thought of themselves as separate from one another, but the common banner of "Orang Asli"' has done much to augment their voice.
Augustine said "the best thing" that had happened to the indigenous peoples was the decision to call themselves "Orang Asli" instead of each identifying only with his tribe.
With this in mind, they formed the Perak Orang Asli Village Network, and the idea has been adopted as well in Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, and Johor.
Citing the recent protest at the Prime Minister's office, Augustine said it was important to note that the Orang Asli had stood on a common ground to demand their rights, not only over land, but also education, health, infrastructure and employment.
“And this is very important," he said. "After 52 years, there is yet to be an Orang Asli who heads the Orang Asli Affairs Department and this is clearly a case of failed integration.
“It's not that they are incapable of doing so. They are able to coordinate themselves well, as we have seen in Putrajaya two weeks ago, as well as in all the Orang Asli NGOs that have sprung up all over the country.
“The Orang Asli do not have many issues between themselves. Their issues are with external forces. Therefore, external forces like civil society should empower them and bring out the focal point of their struggle, which are land rights, education and employment.
"Their cultural heritage and tradition must be given support to flourish.”
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