The Star
PETALING
JAYA: The Star journalist Isabelle Lai (pic) has picked up a special
recognition award for her work on the plight of the orang asli in
Kelantan at the 2013 regional Indigenous Voices in Asia awards.
The
awards were held in conjunction with Human Rights Day on Dec 10 and
organised by the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) to acknowledge
media professionals who cover issues on indigenous people.
In
her Dec 28 story titled Orang Asli Logged Out, Lai wrote that an
estimated 10,000 orang asli are living in dire straits due to extensive
logging and forest conversion.
She
visited several orang asli villages in Gua Musang to take a look at how
they were now surrounded by vast areas of logged forest which had been
converted to monocrop industrial plantations.
The
years of logging have caused small animals such as squirrels, monkeys
and wildboars, which are hunted by the orang asli, to decrease
drastically.
“I
also interviewed several orang asli activists who are now fighting to
have their land rights legally recognised. They claim that all of these
activities have been done throughout the years with no prior
consultation, as well as with little regard for their well-being,” said
Lai, who received a cash award of US$300 (RM963.33) and a certificate.
Society
of Indonesian Environ-mental Journalists chief editor IGG MahaAdi
picked up the outstanding reporting award, while AFP’s Nepal
correspondent Deepak Adhikari also received a special recognition award.
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