By Augustine Anthony
Kampung Bahong Baru is located in Lojing along the highway that leads to Kelantan.
The Orang Asli of this small village are predominantly of the Temiar community.
More than a year ago my colleague Ram Naidu and I were invited to this village by the community leaders to share their problems mainly arising from the Kelantan state authority permitting farmers to cultivate vegetables in their ancestral land.
Today when we visited the same place, we were shocked that their small plot of land is surrounded by vegetable farms that is certain to cause this vulnerable community to be displaced soon.
The entry into their village looks very much like a dumping ground with unbearable stench from fertilizer used for farming activities.Activities that involve land clearance are serious causes of environmental damage that leads to soil erosion and landslides that threthens the safety of this community.
Many of them who had been previously displaced and with very little skill cannot find jobs in the farms located in their own ancestral land.
The owners of these farming lands prefer to employ foreign workers and often the excuses for not hiring the local Temiar community revolve around the myth that these Orang Asli are lazy people.
Not only many of the developmental activities that take place in the Orang Asli ancestral land, are mainly to sustain the ever increasing needs of the urban people, the resultant effect of which is the displacement of these communities but what is more disappointing is the imposition of our values and standards on these vulnerable community that brings permanent damage to their culture, heritage and lifestyle.
The state authority can find some immediate solutions for this Orang Asli community, one of which is by imposing compulsory condition on the farm owners to hire the local Orang Asli first before considering foreign workers.
