Bar Council: Not right to leave orang asli in the lurch for profits

The Star 
by ISABELLE LAI

GUA MUSANG: Loggers and plantation owners in Kelantan must acknowledge the fact that the orang asli had been living in these areas for centuries, said the Bar Council.

Its researcher on the orang asli rights committee, Chung Yi Fan, said it was not right for them to take away the forest resources for short-term profits while leaving the locals with nothing.

He said even the orang asli involved in plantation schemes such as the Ladang Rakyat were a minority while real job opportunities for them were lacking.

“A mainly forest reserve area, where the orang asli have lived for centuries, is being clear-felled and converted to rubber plantations. Ladang Rakyat is the main driver behind it. Certain orang asli selected as participants do receive dividends but only RM200 per month.

“How do you expect a family, who has given up their native territory where they get all their subsistence needs, to survive on RM200 a month?” he said.

The orang asli, he said, viewed the land not just as a means to survive on but as part of their spiritual and cultural identity.

He claimed that the authorities had not taken heed when they tried to speak up for their rights.

Chung said there had been cases where orang asli in a particular area were offered to become participants of a Ladang Rakyat scheme located far away.

“This is a mismatch and cannot be counted as giving them native title land rights. It doesn't make sense, especially when you say the land around their village is being taken away for logging or another Ladang Rakyat scheme,” he noted.

Chung said a new policy in administering orang asli affairs was necessary.

“The old policy was one of controlling access of outsiders to communities. It was to control the orang asli population against the communist influence, so today, the policy has to change.

“The new policy must recognise that they are citizens of Malaysia, have rights to vote and choose their local government,” he said.