Understand idiot said the orang asli.

"You took away my land. You logged my forest. You built highway into my jungle. You flooded my homeland. You poached my meat. You stole my herbs. I have family to feed too. Where to find food for my family if you greedy bastard take everything? How am I not to kill the tiger (for cash) if you keep on raping my food sources? Stop your greed and I will stop killing tiger. Understand idiot?" said the orang asli.

Wednesday February 10, 2010
WWF: Orang asli being used
By YENG AI CHUN
thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Many middlemen are using orang asli to hunt for wildlife, including tigers, for their parts, said World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia.

Its chief executive Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said the authorities needed to step up their enforcement to protect the wildlife and to prevent orang asli from being exploited by these middlemen.

“The middlemen or syndicates find people to trap and kill for them because there is a demand for wildlife parts,” he said in response to an incident where a tiger was shot and left to die in a snare in Perak last week.

“We need to invest in more equipment and people. Our forests and reserve areas are very large and they are easily accessible due to logging roads and porous borders.

“If we don’t protect our tigers, who will?” he said.

In last week’s incident, an orang asli, Yok Meneh had claimed that he was attacked by the tiger while on his way to gather petai at the Bukit Tapah Forest Reserve last Saturday.

However, it was later found that he had been attacked while trying to kill the tiger which he had caught in a snare.

The animal carcass was later found by the Perak Wildlife and National Parks Department officers a day after the attack.

Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (Mycat) programme coordinator Loretta Ann Shepherd urged the authorities to come down hard on those responsible for the incident.

She said the death of the tiger must be investigated further so that not only those responsible in snaring and shooting it were brought to book, but also those who had ordered the killing.

She said that if the orang asli were truly involved in setting up the trap and killing the wildlife, they must be prosecuted.

“This would serve as a lesson for them and a deterrent to others. It is not the kind of news to start the Year of the Tiger.

“The law gives allowances to the orang asli to hunt animals but the tiger is not one of them. The orang asli know that it is illegal to kill tigers and they are not amateurs as it was also reported that they had captured and killed other protected animals,” she said.

--------

Thursday February 11, 2010
Slow, painful death for tiger with bullet and spear wounds
By CHAN LI LEEN
thestar

IPOH: The tiger trapped by a group of orang asli in Sungkai last week died an excruciatingly slow and painful death — so painful that Perak Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director Shabrina Shariff wept when she saw the body.

The tiger was bloodied — it had taken five bullets, two of them in its eyes. It had spear wounds all over, with the poison from the spears slowly killing it. Its flesh was torn by the wire snare and its left forelimb had been torn off.

Shabrina said she could not imagine the pain the four-year-old male tiger would have gone through since last Tuesday, the first day its limb was caught in a snare.

The carcass was found by Perhilitan officers five days later on Sunday with its left forelimb detached and the bloodied body riddled with gunshot wounds.

“But I am very sure that the pain and trauma it suffered before it died would have been excruciating,” said Shabrina.

“We extracted five bullets from its body, limb and both eyes. Its flesh was badly torn by the wire snare and spears the poachers had jabbed it with,” she said.

Shabrina said it had also been poisoned as the spears used by the orang asli were laced with sap from the Ipoh Tree.

Shabrina said that it was impossible for the tiger, which had been injured so severely, to survive.

“It is one of the worst poaching cases I have seen.

“It was a really handsome and big cat, weighing some 120kg and measuring 1.5m to 1.8m long.

“It had very beautiful fur but sadly, we were unable to restore and preserve its skin due to the extent of the injuries.

“All that we could salvage was its bones, which we will assemble later for display,” she said, adding that for the time being, the tiger was buried at the Wildlife Conservation Centre in Sungkai.

Orang asli Yok Meneh had last Saturday claimed that he was attacked by the tiger while on his way to gather petai at the Bukit Tapah Forest Reserve.

However, it was later found that he had been attacked while trying to kill the tiger, which was caught in a snare set by other orang asli.

Shabrina said the orang asli claimed that they hunted tiger for its meat which was considered an aphrodisiac.

“But I believe that they could be involved in selling tiger parts to middlemen.”

-----------

Oh dear, they killed the tiger — Tay Tian Yan
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

FEB 11 — I think it is necessary to tell you the tiger’s whereabouts... pardon me, should be its fate instead.

We were told that unfortunate Orang Asli Yok Meneh was attacked and wounded by a tiger when he was collecting petai at the Bukit Tapah Forest Reserve.

Yok Meneh said he endured pain and fought the tiger. Eventually, the tiger slunk away.

Everyone applauded and praised him, saying that he was a modern Wu Song, a Chinese fictional hero who was well known for killing a tiger with his bare hands.

I am afraid that some enthusiastic people even wished to send the heroic tiger fighter rice and medicines.

Oh, it is not necessary to do so!

Yok Meneh was neither unfortunate, nor was he heroic.

Instead, the tiger was the unfortunate one, and it is now a dead tiger.

Perak Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) officers found in their investigation that there was no petai tree there. How could he collect petai when there was no petai tree there?

In fact, he went there with two other men to set up a snare to capture a tiger.

As a result, the wretched tiger’s limb was caught in the wire snare. Yok Meneh and his friends fired several shots at the tiger and waited for the tiger to die.

The next day, they returned to the jungle to collect the carcass, planning to sell it for money.

Unexpectedly, the tiger had not died yet. It attacked and wounded Yok Meneh.

Yok Meneh then returned to the village. He made up a story and became a hero.

The left forelimb of the tiger had been torn off and the detached limb was still caught in the snare.

With bullet and spear wounds, the tiger collapsed about 20m from the site.

The poor tiger could not even live until the Year of the Tiger.

According to investigations, Yok Meneh and his friends had previously killed a lot of tigers and other protected animals.

It reminded me of the South China tiger photo scandal.

Farmer Zhou Zhenglong claimed that he found a believed-to-be-extinct wild South China tiger, and he was able to snap photos of it.

The news shocked the whole country and everyone was so happy to find that the South China tiger was not yet extinct. Zhou became so famous and he received a huge sum in interview and appearance fees.

However, experts later found that the photos were fake, they were in fact replicas of a traditional Chinese lunar new year picture.

The people were frustrated when they found that they had been cheated. Zhou and a few officials who covered for him were charged or sacked.

How is this related to the tiger-killing incident in Malaysia then?

Both of them used a tiger to lie. However, the motives, people’s mentalities and social reactions were totally different.

Zhou only fabricated a tiger while Yok Meneh and his friends deliberately shot and killed a real tiger.

Zhou made use of the people’s care for endangered animals to gain benefits. And Yok Meneh made use of the people’s belief that tiger meat and penises had special functions to earn money.

Chinese people were frustrated over the fake photo incident, resulting in action being taken against those who were involved.

Malaysians, however, did not respond much. It was just a tiger, after all.

But there are not many wild tigers left in Malaysia. The most we have are about 400. How long can these tigers meet the demand of those with extremely high sexual fantasies but low ability?

Please leave the tigers alone. You will get a better effect if you spend about RM30 for a capsule of Viagra. — mysinchew.com

* This article is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

Tiger which mauled man meets tragic end

February 7, 2010
Star
BY SYLVIA LOOI

IPOH: The tiger that attacked an orang asli man at the Bukit Tapah Forest Reserve on Saturday has been found dead.

A team from the Perak National Parks and Wildlife Department found the male tiger with gunshot and blow pipe wounds within 100m from where it attacked the orang asli.

It had also lost its left forelimb.

Perak National Parks and Wildlife Department director Shabrina Shariff believed the animal could have escaped a trap set by poachers.

“The tiger might have attacked Yok Meneh because it was in pain,” she said on Saturday.

“That is why I was surprised to read that the tiger had attacked a human as tigers are normally reclusive animals which kept to themselves,” she said.

The tiger tipped the scale at 120kg and measured between 1.5m and 1.8m in length. The tiger’s carcass is expected to be taken to the department’s Sungkai office for further checks.

The animal had attacked Yok Meneh, a 47-year-old petai gatherer from the Semai tribe,

Yok Meneh was attacked while he was on his way to gather petai and suffered a deep wound measuring 15.2cm on his back. He also suffered injuries to his hands and legs from fighting back.

Shabrina also urged Yok Meneh to lodge a police report on the matter as he was entitled to a compensation for being attacked by a fierce animal.

She said the department would recommend to the relevant authorities that Yok Meneh be compensated.

Court Grants Orang Asli Leave To Review Environment Department's Decision

October 30, 2009
Bernama.com

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Twenty-seven Orang Asli were granted leave by the High Court here on Friday to seek a judicial review of the Department of Environment (DOE) director-general's decision to approve the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the Kelau Dam project in Raub, Pahang.

Justice Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin made the order in chambers after dismissing a preliminary objection by senior federal counsel Azizah Nawawi, of the DOE, who contended that the application was filed out of time.

Pendor Anger and 26 others, from the Senoi and Temuan indigenous tribe, filed the application at the High Court registry on Oct 9, 2007, naming the director-general of DOE and the Pahang and Malaysian governments as respondents.

They claimed that the land involved in the project was passed down to them by their ancestors and that it was where they find livelihood for their families.

They also claimed that the EIA report did not meet the DOE's Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines dan Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines for Dams.

The applicants said the EIA report was doubtful as it failed to cover detailed and reasonable studies on the impact on wildlife as well as give data and enviromental assessment on the affected area.

They also said that they knew nothing about the EIA report which was approved by the government on April 24, 2001 until their counsel told them.

They want a declaration that the government, by approving the dam project, has breached its fiduciary duty to protect the Orang Asli, and costs and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.

The applicants were represented by counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin.

-- BERNAMA

Police stop march for Orang Asli rights

Do you know only the indigenous people of Malaysia can rightly call me "squatter"? And I can accept that. But not any other. Indigenous people have suffered. Land raped. Forest logged. They are being ill treated in their own land in a country called Bodohland.

-----------------

NST Online
2008/09/14
By Evangeline Majawat

KUALA LUMPUR: Police yesterday stopped a march by a group of indigenous people seeking greater protection of their rights.

Some 150 members of the Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia (JOAS) had planned to go to Istana Negara to hand over a memorandum to the king.

The memorandum was to urge the government to honour the United Nations Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous People (DRIP), to which Malaysia is a signatory.

Their demands included the establishment of an Orang Asli native court in Peninsular Malaysia, the repeal of laws which marginalise the Orang Asal or indigenous people and an end to the government's practise of leasing native customary rights land without consulting native communities.

Today is the first anniversary of the DRIP.

Dressed in traditional finery, the group had planned to walk from the Central Market Annexe to Istana Negara.

However, police ordered the group to disperse just as it stepped out of the building at 10.15am.

They claimed that police had earlier assured them that the march could go on.

"We were given assurances this morning.

"All we want is to walk to the palace to hand over the memorandum," JOAS president Adrian Lasimbang said.

Lasimbang said JOAS had sent letters to the authorities and palace officials two weeks ago to notify them of the march.

"But the police only responded two days ago. They sent us a letter asking us to go to the police station."

Dang Wangi police chief ACP Mohamad Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman said the police stopped the march because the organisers had failed to obtain a permit.

Forced to disperse, the group retreated into the Central Market building.

There, Lasimbang and two other JOAS representatives briefed the media on the contents of the memorandum.

The nine-page memorandum highlighted articles from the DRIP and the plight of the indigenous peoples of Malay-sia.

Among the issues were encroachment on native customary rights land, violation of the right to self-governance and pressures to assimilate.

"JOAS has carried out a study comparing the declaration with local policies concerning Orang Asal," said Lasimbang.

"It is sad that the policies don't meet the standards. We Orang Asal have been marginalised for so long.

"The government has a commitment to implement all policies according to the declaration

"The handing over of the memorandum to the king is a symbolic gesture.

"We want to create more awareness about our problems and hope the public will respect us," JOAS member Mark Bujang said.

He said the Orang Asli had been labelled "anti-development and anti-establishment" for decades.

"We're not anti-development. We just want it on our terms and any development must benefit our communities.

"We want to be included in the decision-making process."

Bujang said native land issues were especially important because the Orang Asli's identities were related to the land.

"Our lives are tied to the land. Land is sacred to us. How can you take our native land from us?"

Lifir Tangkak from the Jakun settlement of Kampung Buluh Nipis, Pahang, took an eight-hour bus ride to lend his support to the cause.

"The authorities don't recognise our rights. They take our land indiscriminately.

"This must stop," the 70-year-old said.

-------------------

Indigenous peoples: Listen to our cries
Malaysiakini

Rahmah Ghazali Sep 13, 08

Despite calling off a march to the King’s palace to submit a memorandum, our spirits are not broken and we will continue to voice our disappointment towards the government, the Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia) said today.

In the memorandum, the network had protested the non-recognition of their customary lands, forced resettlement, non-recognition of cultural rights, unfair policies of assimilation and integration, and outright disregard for judicial decisions.

The march was planned in conjunction with the first anniversary of United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

In the memorandum, the group highlighted several violations including Orang Asal rights as the land-owners.

“The federal and state governments have acted maliciously against the Orang Asal by forcibly taking our lands, territories and resources without our free, prior consent,” executive director of Borneo Resources Institute, Mark Bujang, told a press conference following the cancellation of the march this morning from police 'advice'.

Involuntary resettlement

Reading out the memorandum, Mark said in Selangor alone, about 7,000 hectares of Orang Asal reserves were degazetted without their knowledge. Neither were they informed when, where and how the areas were taken from them.

“In Sabah and Sarawak, an increasing number of communities are now finding out the hard way that their native customary lands have been given to oil palm and industrial tree plantation companies or leased to logging companies - again without their prior consent,” he added.

Furthermore, the Orang Asal have been subjected to force for involuntary resettlements because of government’s non-recognition of their native titles.

Mark cited as an example the forced resettlement of Chewong-Orang Asli community in the Kelau Dam project in Pahang where the indigenous people were intentionally misrepresented by the agents of the government and forced to resettle.

“To make matters worse, the indigenous community concerned need not be resettled as their village would not have been affected by the projects,” Mark explained.

Government should apologise

Among their demands, the Orang Asal have requested that customary land be returned and appropriate legal processes be taken for the restitution of the land obtained.

“The government must immediately halt the legal process to gazette land which indiscriminately acquire the indigenous customary lands,” said Mark.

He added the courts should prioritise cases involving customary land dispute and urged the government to provide legal assistance for their cases.

According to findings in the memorandum, the Orang Asal consist of more than 80 ethno-linguistic groups, each with its own culture, language and territory, totalling up to four million or 15 per cent of national population.

“In the context of Malaysia, however, no law or policy was found that mentions the right to self-determination for indigenous peoples, let alone, accord us that right,” said Mark.

According to him, the Orang Asal have suffered from injustices by previous regimes and governments since the formation of the government of Malaysia.

“Therefore, the government must apologise for all these injustices and prejudices that have happened throughout the history,” he stressed.

Temengor Forest Reserve

I found the smallest bat in Malaysia on the pavement in the middle of Grik town. It was a rare find. It was injured. It was probably killed by some other raptor. This jungle dweller could be escaping from the rampant logging at Temengor Forest Reserve. Note the size of the bat vs the 20 sen coin.

The Royal Belum State Park is fortunate to be gazetted as a protected area. But why is Temengor Forest Reserve which has such rich biodivisity was not given the same royal treatment? The Plain pouched Hornbills are migrating rare birds. They travel everyday from the south to the north everyday during the month of June-September. If Temengor is not protected, Royal Belum’s health as a biological hot spot will also be affected (Dr Loh, MNS). Map below showed the Royal Belum State Park in green while her stepsister - Temengor Forest Reserve has to bare all for the greedy loggers.

Orang asli are being "pushed" to the limit. With no place to hunt and no forest to gather food. They have but to open up land for agriculture. See the picture below how forest have to be chopped. Who should we blame - the orang asli or the loggers or the authority?

Look at the logs. Waiting to be transported out from Temengor Forest Reserve.

Lorries after lorries were seen extracting out the logs.

And if the orang asli were not affected...then this little frog hiding in a small dent on a barren logging trail could best sumed up the state of the environment now. Do you want to wait until the frog "fly"(if it can) out to Grik town...and suffer the same fate as the little rare bat?

Elephants' Orang Asli woes vs Orang Asli's elephant woes

How would you like to be in their shoes? Image the elephant is writing the news.

Lets read the two versions(news) below and get to understand the woes of elephants vs Orang Asli.
Who do you think is the original occupants? Elephants or Orang Asli?

--------------------

Forestexplorers Online » Local News
2008/07/18
Elephants' Orang Asli woes

TEMERLOH: A new rubber plantation with 60 Orang Asli at Kampung Bukit Ngeri, Lanchang near here have been encroaching on elephants' territory and have been causing nightmares, food scarcity and human disturbances to the wild elephants.

The problem started last year when about 20 elephants were surprised to find the rattans and bamboos gone and replaced by rubber trees. The head elephant, Jumbo King, 74, said they tried to eat the 73ha rubber trees opened three years ago but can't.

Jumbo King said some human activities can be seen at the rubber plantation in the day.

He said elephants had stopped moving around during the day over concerns that human might harm them.

State Wildlife and National Parks Department director Saharudiin Anan said three officers had been sent and action would be taken after assessing the situation.

-----------------

NST Online » Local News
2008/07/18
Orang Asli's elephant woes

TEMERLOH: A herd of wild elephants encroaching on a rubber plantation have been giving 60 Orang Asli of Kampung Bukit Ngeri, Lanchang near here, sleepless nights.

The problem started last year and has worsened this year when the herd of 20 animals destroyed their rubber trees. Village head Batin Dinkuk, 74, said almost the entire 73ha rubber plantation that was opened three years ago, had been destroyed.

Dinkuk said some of the elephants had wandered into the village at night.

He said villagers had stopped patrolling at night over concerns the animals might harm them.

State Wildlife and National Parks Department director Saharudin Anan said three officers had been sent and action would be taken after assessing the situation.

Let orang asli manage their plantations

Tuesday June 24, 2008
Staronline
By CHRISTINA KOH

THE Perak Government wants the Orang Asli Affairs Department (JHEOA) to surrender oil palm and rubber plantation it manages on behalf of the orang asli.

State executive councillor Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu said he was confident that the orang asli were capable of running their own plantations which were currently run by third parties.

“This is not right. The orang asli are professionals and most of them are graduates.

“By right, they should get their land back,” said Mohd Osman, the state Tourism, Hu-man Development and Non-governmental Organisations Committee chairman, after Yayasan Orang Asli Perak’s (YOAP) annual general meeting in Ipoh recently.

He was responding to complaints by YOAP chairman Suki Mee that the orang asli were being victimised as they were not allowed to run their own plantations.

Mohd Osman said he would check the terms and conditions, both federal agencies, to determine if there was a loophole.

Suki said the orang asli had 18 plantations in Perak covering some 7,200ha which had been contracted to Risda Smallholders Plantations Sdn Bhd and other companies to manage.

He said the problem began 15 years ago when the federal government decided to take land reserved for orang asli and develop it through JHEOA on behalf of those who had little capital.

The department then tasked Risda with the job, with the understanding that the plantations would be returned to the orang asli after four years, said Suki.

“But until now, this has not been done. JHEOA tells us that we are not ready or not capable enough. But we are capable. This is our land,” he added.

The orang asli were only given low dividends as infrequently as once a year, said Suki.

He said he planned to propose that the government set up an orang asli advisory committee on all matters that affected the community.

Perak Orang Asli Affairs Department director Mohd Zamri Mustajap could not be reached for comment.

Orang asli can protect ‘treasures’

Staronline
Tuesday June 3, 2008
By IVAN LOH

THE orang asli residing in the Royal Belum Forest Reserve can be a valuable ally in protecting the many ‘treasures’ of the forest.

Perak police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Zulkifli Abdullah said the indigenous community could provide information to police on any illegal logging or criminal activities that happened around the forest.

DCP Zulkifli said the orang asli were living in a strategic place in the forest reserve where many valuable products of the forest were found.

The valuable treasures, he said, provided a livelihood for the orang asli, adding that sandalwood, rattan, and the highly prized agarwood (gaharu) were well sought after,

“We do not want any unscrupulous individuals coming into the forest and taking away the local products,” he said, after visiting the Jahai tribe at the Kampung Sungai Kijar in the forest recently.

“We need to look after the orang asli as well,” he added.

DCP Zulkifli said the orang asli were living a very basic life and outsiders with bad intent could easily influence them.

He said marine police from the beat base in Banding would be making their rounds around the area and reaching out to them.

“They will be keeping in touch with them and at the same time get information on what is going on in the forest,” he said.

DCP Zulkifli, district police chiefs, and police department heads had visited the orang asli settlement with their spouses after their monthly meeting at the Belum Rainforest Resort on Banding Is-land.

The police also presented the orang asli with hampers and gifts.

Groups ditch forestry consultation process

NGOs have been used by the Government to hookwink the international communities. Thank God, we still have people who still believe in the fight for the environment in Malaysia. Read this article:

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz Mar 19, 08 7:10pm
Source: Malaysiakini


A multi-stakeholder consultation on ways to prevent the import of illegal timber into Europe came to an abrupt end when two coalitions walked out of the process that had begun last June.

Yesterday, the coalitions - JOANGOHutan and Joas - comprising representatives of indigenous peoples and environmental groups alleged that their presence was aimed only at endorsing a flawed process rather than being allowed to improve it through input.

The plantation industries and commodities ministry has spearheaded consultations with interest-groups since June 22 last year.

The aim is to incorporate their views into the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on timber imports which the government hopes to conclude with the European Commission (EC).

The VPA comes under the EC’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan, a larger European Union (EU) initiative to stop imports of illegally-sourced timber.

It is said that more than 50 percent of all tropical timber and more than 20 percent of boreal timber coming into the EU is illegally-sourced.

However, one activist said the government agencies have not included all the proposals of the lobby groups in the Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS), on which the issuance of licences will be based.

“They told us that our proposals would be taken into consideration,” said Sarawak Dayak Iban Association secretary-general Nicholas Mujah when met in Kuala Lumpur today.

“But all this while, most of our concerns and proposals have not been written into the documents at all.”

One of the most significant proposals concern the definition of ‘legal timber’.

The current VPA defines ‘legal timber’ as that ‘harvested by licensed person from approved areas and timber and timber products exported in accordance with the laws, regulations and procedures pertaining to forestry, timber industry and trade of Malaysia’.

Many groups have pointed out, however, that such a definition ignores the incidence of smuggled timber that has been certified as legal in Malaysia.

It also ignores the fact that logging licences have often been issued on land claimed by indigenous communities without their free, prior and informed consent.

JOANGOHutan and Joas had proposed that Malaysian legal timber be defined as that originating from within Malaysia and from lands free from aboriginal or native customary claims.

This definition was not incorporated into the draft TLAS, said Mujah.

‘Meet minimum demand’

Centre for Orang Asli Concerns coordinator Colin Nicholas said the government’s refusal to use the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 to further define legal timber similarly showed its lack of seriousness to incorporate their views and input.

According to the Act, no licence for the collection of forest produce shall be issued to anyone who is ‘not being aborigines normally resident in that aboriginal area’ without consulting the director-general of the Department of Orang Asli Affairs.

The Act also provides that ‘in granting any such licence it may be ordered that a specified proportion of aboriginal labour be employed’. The government rejected this, however, and contended that the National Forestry Act 1984 - which does not provide for such extensive protection of Orang Asli interests - is “sufficient”.

Commenting on this, Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Association information chief Norya Abas said it was ridiculous to use the Forestry Act to protect human communities. “The Act is to protect the forest. It doesn’t protect the Orang Asli communities that live in them, as does the Orang Asli Act,” he said.

In a joint statement issued yesterday to the chairperson of the consultative process, the coalitions said the issue of defining what constitutes legal timber is only one of their ‘minimum’ demands.

“... A definition which merely requires parties to abide by the law as set out in statutory provisions is simplistic and fails to deal with the real issue,” they said.

The real issue pertains to “respect for the Orang Asal as a people, as an autonomous community with our own customs, laws and institutions and the need to ensure that governmental actions do not jeopardise the very survival of our community but provide for the socio economic upliftment of the same”.

“In view of this unacceptable censuring, we are left with no choice but to officially withdraw from this process until our minimum demand is met. We refuse to continue to participate in a process that is making decisions over our lives and yet expects our participation to be mere endorsement of a process that does not respect us.”

The coalitions had planned to meet ministry officials over the matter today, but the appointment was called off by the ministry. Its spokesperson declined to give reasons, when contacted.

Orang Asli - The Simpliest People

Orang Asli - the indigenous people of Malaysia.

Simple, little need, stay put through good time or bad time.

Can we match them?

Read this article from the The Star, Monday November 5, 2007

Young teacher gives stirring speech of how orang asli persevere
By SHAILA KOSHY

KUALA LUMPUR: At first glance, Tijah Yok Chopli strikes one as a petite and demure orang asli.

Tijah: Believes that the

Federal Constitution

has fallen short of fulfilling

its purpose

But when she speaks, you are caught in a powerhouse of energy, honesty and passion.
The young teacher from Bidor was just one of more than 100 panellists at the recent 14th Malaysian Law Conference, but this non-lawyer brought home powerfully the importance of the Federal Constitution and of constitutionalism for marginalised peoples.

“I think the colonials thought of this place as Tanah Melayu because they went to the estuaries or the edges of the jungles where they met Malays only,” she said.

Speaking in Bahasa Malaysia on “Orang Asli and our Constitution – Protecting Indigenous' Customs and Cultural Rights”, Tijah showed that the Constitution had fallen short in fulfilling its purpose.

Tijah, who is a Senoi, confessed that when she was given the topic to talk on, she had no idea what the Constitution was apart from a vague memory of the reference in the Rukunegara to its supremacy.

However, she set herself the task of reading it and was surprised by what it contained.
Tijah said the orang asli may not know about the Constitution but they lived by their own constitution and laws.

“We have our own groups and districts and zones and make decisions by consensus. We build on the policy of sharing and living in harmony with each other and with nature.

“Our lives are stress-free, unlike urban life which is wreaked with rape here and there, kidnapping here and there, and house break-ins here and there.

“I can pull my collar up with pride,” she said, and did just that.

Unlike many who left Malaysia during the 1997 economic crisis, Tijah said the orang asli stayed put: “Whether the economy is good or bad, we are poor.”

“We are not anti-development. I too want money, to be rich, to have a car, to have development but not to the extent that we lose our customs and values,” she said.

Fellow panellist Centre for Orang Asli Concerns coordinator Dr Colin Nicholas said the orang asli were not just attached to a plot of land but a particular geographical space.

“It is the basis of their spirituality and the source of their identity. They want their land on their terms,” he said, adding that the orang asli had been clearly left out when the Constitution was drafted.

Universiti Malaya Faculty of Law deputy dean (research and development) Dr Ramy Bulan said the preservation of indigenous peoples languages was important.

“Without language, dances and ceremonies are debased to mere entertainment,” she said.