excusez-moi?

On the Orang Asli

by Markus Ng
(taken from On the Orang Asli)

Written 2 February 2008, as submitted to www.ceku.org.uk

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As a Malaysian and as a Chinese, I’m really looking forward to two upcoming events. Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and it’ll be my first time performing (think karaoke) in front of a mob of Chinese nationals in university. The other is the upcoming General Elections, where we get to participate in the democratic process of electing our leaders.

Like most Chinese, I pray for blessings and prosperity for myself, my family, and my friends. Recently though, I find myself praying more for the country and for the marginalised. This may sound rather silly, but if God exists, and answers prayers based on the number of requests he gets, we really should be praying more for those in greatest need of his help.

The Orang Asli, the natives of Peninsular Malaysia, certainly fall into that category. Although making up a mere 0.6% of the Malaysian population, as of 2003, more than 75% of them live below the poverty line [1], a shocking statistic, when compared to our national rate of 5.7% (2004) [2].

Less than half the Orang Asli population is literate, this compared to about 90% nationally. Functional literacy is estimated to be even lower. About 62 percent of Orang Asli schoolchildren drop out of school each year, and more than 90% of them do not go beyond secondary school. This has not changed much for the past 20 years.[3]

They are also affected disproportionately by easily preventable and curable diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, cholera, typhoid, and measles. Their infant mortality rate (median=51.7 deaths per 1000 infants) is more than three times that of the general population (median=16.3), and their life expectancy is significantly lower too (52 years for females and 54 for males, compared to 68 years for females and 72 for males nationally). In 1994, 25 of the 42 mothers in Malaysia who died in childbirth were Orang Asli women - meaning that an Orang Asli mother was 119 times more likely to die during delivery than the average Malaysian mother.[4]

Given their plight, one would imagine the government to be highly sensitive and concerned with their welfare, but as I like to point out, in Malaysia, you’d have to have a pretty damn good imagination.

State of affairs

At present, there is the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (JHEOA), a statutory body charged by the Federal government to oversee the affairs of the Orang Asli. They are the only government department in Malaysia dedicated solely to a particular ethnic group. Among their duties are appointing village heads, acting as the de-facto owner of Orang Asli land, and in general, making decisions concerning Orang Asli development, education, and welfare – effectively chucking Orang Asli autonomy out of the window. This paternalistic approach to government should be unacceptable![5]

The Federal government disagrees strongly. They really like the JHEOA. In fact, they think its doing such a great job at helping the Orang Asli, they gave the JHEOA a whopping RM144 million ang pow in the 2008 budget [6], which was welcomed by all quarters including the Orang Asli themselves. However, the question remains whether the money filters down. Is this a case of harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi?

At a discussion I attended between Orang Asli leaders and the JHEOA last September, it was very apparent that the Orang Asli were not receiving the millions of ringgit allocated to them. There were various procedures on how to apply for the funds (and there were several available – education, general welfare, etc), and many of the Orang Asli leaders were not even aware of how much they were entitled to, and how to apply for the funds.

I posed a question to the representative from the JHEOA then – what happens to all the unclaimed money allocated to the Orang Asli every year? After all, money is coming in, but the Orang Asli are not getting it. The reply I got was highly unsatisfactory. He fumbled on how the fund was divided into two – one for development purposes, and the other for welfare. From what I understood the bulk of it was channelled into development. I was quite nervous speaking in front of the crowd back then, so I didn’t push for a better answer, but I’d encourage those back in Malaysia to pursue this money trail.

Homeless @ home

Having brought all this up, the biggest challenge facing the Orang Asli today is the dispossession from their homelands. Unlike most of us who have titles to the property/land we own, the Orang Asli have been living there for generations long before any legal framework on land ownership was introduced. Their culture, identity, and spirituality is also closely intertwined with the local ecosystem/environment.

The Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 provides for the gazetting of Orang Asli reserves, which offers some form of protection. However, the law is still very inadequate, as it contains provisions like Section 7 (3) which states, “The State Authority may in like manner revoke wholly or in part or vary any declaration of an aboriginal reserve made under subsection (1)”, effectively placing the fate of all Orang Asli land into the hands of the government.[7]

This isn’t the best of arrangements, as the government, often in pursuit of development, can degazette any land belonging to the Orang Asli as it sees fit. Hence, Orang Asli settlements have been known to make way for hydroelectric dams, oil palm plantations, highways and even golf courses.

As of 2003, only 15.1% of a total 127,698 hectares of Orang Asli land had been gazetted as Orang Asli reserves. 22.5% had been approved for gazetting, but not gazetted as of yet. The status of the remaining 62.4% is “applied for gazetting, but not approved yet”.[8] Looking at these figures, I cannot help but question the competence of the JHEOA. What has it been doing all these years if they can’t even gazette a piece of land; and why the huge disparity between approval and implementation? On top of that, what about the thousands of hectares originally approved for gazetting which have been withdrawn?[9]

In Principle

The plight of the Orang Asli is a serious one, and there are a many layers of issues to examine and address, which would take a long time. I’d like however to end this article by bringing your attention to the principle of justice within two concepts.

Firstly, in self-determination. Is it fair that the Orang Asli do not have control on their land, and by extension, over their culture, identity, and livelihood? On top of that, how is the JHEOA kept accountable? Why are non-Orang Asli individuals making all the decisions which will affect the lives of the Orang Asli? Would it be acceptable for a Buddhist monk to run a Catholic church? Visit the JHEOA website [10], and a slideshow with portraits of all 11 directors of the department since its establishment in 1953 will greet you. Not a single one is Orang Asli.

Secondly, in democracy. In a democracy, everyone has an equal say, and the loudest voice (or one with the highest number of votes) gets heard. Is this fair? On the surface, probably yes. Democracy pleases the highest number of people. We need however, to be wary of the tyranny of the majority - in following the interest of the majority vote/voice, there is the danger of doing away entirely with minority interests.

This is a crucial point to observe in a country like Malaysia, where politics is still played out along ethnic and religious lines. The interest of Malays will never be discarded as long as UMNO is in power. The proportion of Chinese and Indians are significant too, so they always get some attention, although this is certainly a contested point. But how about other minorities, for whom there is no political representation? Who will speak and fight for them?


Semai children

Justice needs to be our guiding principle. Come general elections in March, we will have a vote. My hope is that we Malaysians will not choose a government that will cater only to our individual self-interests, but a government and leadership that will fight any injustice, uphold the law, and serve the people, irregardless of our ethnic and economic background.

[1]http://www.coac.org.my/codenavia/portals/coacv2/code/main/main_art.php?parentID=11497609537883&artID=11509699100857

[2] http://www.un.org.my/index.php?navi_id=130

[3]http://www.coac.org.my/codenavia/portals/coacv2/code/main/main_art.php?parentID=11400226426398&artID=11397894520274

[4]http://www.coac.org.my/codenavia/portals/coacv2/code/main/main_art.php?parentID=11400226426398&artID=11397894520274

[5]http://www.coac.org.my/codenavia/portals/coacv2/code/main/main_art.php?parentID=11400226426398&artID=11397894520274

[6]http://www.treasury.gov.my/index.php?ch=12&pg=149&ac=2047

[7] http://faolex.fao.org/docs/texts/mal33568.doc

[8]http://www.coac.org.my/codenavia/portals/coacv2/code/main/main_art.php?parentID=11374494101180&artID=11432645038345

[9]http://www.coac.org.my/codenavia/portals/coacv2/code/main/main_art.php?parentID=11400226426398&artID=11397894520274

[10] www.jheoa.gov.my

Labels: anak Bangsa Malaysia, Markus, Orang Asli

posted by ee chia @ 11:06 am