It was just after Christmas 2008 and Bah Uda, an Orang Asli of the Temiar ethnic group, was celebrating with his family and friends. What could be a better cap to the evening than lighting a fire cracker? “We thought it was a good idea and took it outside to explode it” said Bah Uda of Kampung Bahong Baru at the Kelantan-Pahang border.
But disaster happened – no, it did not explode but a deafening explosive sound of another kind voiced down the overlooking mountain. Then with an unearthly sound, half a million tons of boulders and mud thundered down the mountain. “One of the first things I did was to move my family away from its path” added a distraught Bah Uda. By God’s grace no lives were lost. Both Augustine Anthony and I were equally appalled at the news.
Parking the car 1 KM away, both of us trekked down the ravine to reach Kampung Bahong Baru on the morning of 08.08.09. We were informed that the logger’s activities had contributed to the landslide. Apparently, truck-paths were made for the loggers to reach for the best trees on the mountain thus causing a chain reaction during the seasonal rainy weather – a perfect recipe for disaster.
With his infant child strapped in sarong to his back, the village Tok Batin Sian bin Manis desperately made his way to personally greet us. Barely two years ago when we visited this village there was no cultivation besides their own, however today farmers have taken possession of their ancestral land and pushed them to the mountain edges. The Tok Batin confessed his ignorance on ancestral land rights.
Furthermore, the activities of these farmers have turned this once clean village into a dumping-ground of sort. The Orang Asli folks not only have to bear with the stench but also the danger of toxic-waste right at their door-step. Their children, oblivious to its danger, are seen playing with anything scavenged from the dumpsite. It was a pathetic sight indeed.
There is no electricity and clean water supply. The only source of water is tapped from the farmer’s water-hose. Most of the elders are jobless as farmers only prefer employing foreigners. On the whole these people live in extremely poor conditions.
A point to ponder is why is there an oversight by the authorities. The government agency entrusted to oversee the affairs of the Orang Asli is the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (Department of Orang Asli Affairs) (JHEOA) a body under the Malaysian Ministry of Rural Development. Amongst its stated objectives are to eradicate poverty among the Orang Asli, improving their health, promoting education, and improving their general livelihood. Despite that there is a high incidence of poverty among the Orang Asli.
In 1997, 80% of all Orang Asli lived below the poverty line. This ratio is extremely high compared to the national poverty rate of 8.5% at that time and despite all the development that is taking place in our country the Orang Asli continue to be sidelined and their basic rights often trampled upon.
The plight of the Temiar in Kampung Bahong Baru is only one of the many problems that confronts us today when dealing with the Orang Asli community as a whole.
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(M. Gokoolaram Naidu is the Executive Officer of Perak Legal Aid Centre & Human-Rights Sub-Committee)