Tuesday, May 14, 2013

GE13: Orang asli urged to fight for rights By SIMON KHOO simonkhoo@thestar.com.my

BERA: The orang asli community should not let themselves to be manipulated by other parties for personal interests in view of the general election, orang asli Senator Datuk Muhammad Olian Abdullah said.

Muhammad Olian said although it was not wrong for orang asli leaders to contest in the polls, it must be for the sake of fighting for the rights and general welfare of the community.

“If there are certain issues the community is not happy with, they should bring it up through their village headmen to the attention of the relevant authorities.

“Many quarters are now trying to instigate and influence the simple-minded community in order to get their votes.

“I hope all community leaders would be on the guard and advise the villagers accordingly so that their minds and thoughts would not be colonised by outsiders,” he told Star Metro.

Muhammad Olian said several matters such as housing, financial assistance and scholarships for orang asli students had been addressed by the Government while other issues such as gazetting of ancestral land and economic activities needed a longer time frame to plan and implement.

Citing examples, he said plans were in the pipeline to introduce replanting schemes for new orang asli settlements so that they could be self-dependent with yields comprising oil palm, rubber and herbs such as Tongkat Ali.

“With the use of new techologies, a factory processing kayu gaharu in Kedait, Rompin is now exporting the products overseas and is recognised as one of the best in the country.

“The important aspect is orang asli must have a penchant to attain success and compete with others.

“They must continue to seek knowledge and willing to change their lifestyle for the better,” he said, adding that many orang asli students had achieved good results in the primary and secondary levels as a result of a change in their parents’ mindset.

Muhammad Olian also praised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for going to the ground to visit and give out incentives to 13 students who did well in their studies in Kampung Gumum earlier this month.

He said Pahang under the leadership of Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob was in the midst of identifying 15,000ha of ancestral land belonging to the orang asli community to be gazetted.

On the other hand, Muhammad Olian claimed the Kelantan PAS government was not as accommodating as based on ground feedback, a substantial amount of land in Gua Musang had been cleared for development.

“In fact, I was told that the Orang Asli Development Department has approved a 200ha kayu gaharu farm complete with allocations and training given to the orang asli folks but the project has hit a snag because the Kelantan state government has yet to give approval for land,” he said.

Muhammad Olian urged the department to send their staff to the ground to explain the actual situation so that the orang asli community would not be deceived and act detrimental to their interests.

Recently, the Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Association vice-president Simpan Suda told a news portal that he was contemplating to come out to contest in the elections for the sake of the community.

Among the targeted parliamentary constituencies with a high number of orang asli voters in Pahang were Rompin and Bera.

Several other prominent candidates who were keen include lawyer Amani Williams-Hunt @ Bah Tony and Bob Manolan Mohamad.

For many years, the orang asli community was considered a “fixed deposit” for the Barisan Nasional coalition due to their loyalty to the Government.