Nenggiri by-election ignites blame game in Orang Asli water issues

 

A by-election is all about the blame game and the failures of politicians who formerly serviced the area. We seldom hear about policies and creative and practical solutions to problems.

In the by-election, the politician will always vow to listen and learn. However, most Malaysians know this is all empty talk.

On Aug 11, at a campaign ceramah, Annuar Musa, PN’s Nenggiri by-election operations director, brought up the twin issues of land ownership for the settlers of the South Kelantan Development Authority (Kesedar) and clean water supply problems faced by Orang Asli villagers.

His suggestion was for land under Kesedar’s administration to be transferred directly by the state government to the settlers.

He denied claims that the state was responsible for water issues faced by the Orang Asli and said that the provision of clean water to their settlements was managed by the Orang Asli development department (JAKOA).

The following day, Aug 12, at a press conference in Jeram Tekoh, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the BN chairman, questioned Annuar’s timing in highlighting these two specific issues. He accused Annuar of deflecting blame from himself.

Zahid also rejected claims that BN was responsible, and blamed Annuar for failing to fix the land ownership issues that he said should have been resolved when Annuar was minister.

Zahid promised the settlers and participants of Kesedar that he would help them resolve these issues, and he criticised Annuar who, he said, had left behind such a mess, which he had to clean up after Annuar’s departure.

More importantly, Sapiah Nor, the director-general of JAKOA, rejected claims that the Orang Asli water issue was caused by her department’s failure to maintain the provided water treatment system.

She said that water problems were caused by limited, or polluted water sources. It was an issue that was not peculiar to Orang Asli villages, she said, because Malay kampungs in nearby areas also suffer a similar plight.

By working closely with the minerals and geoscience departments and local universities, JAKOA has managed to provide alternative sources of water for the Orang Asli villagers, by boring wells.

Sapiah said that the reduction in water catchment areas for channelling water were caused by water pollution, uncontrolled logging and plantation activities.

Rural communities depend on the river for their source of water for drinking and cleaning, as well as a source of food. However, irresponsible timber operators, mining companies and palm oil plantations, have dumped dangerous chemicals into the waterways, polluting them. This has caused much hardship for the Orang Asli and kampung dwellers.

Fish die, children fall ill, people who bathe in the waters become covered in rashes. Clear waters turn cloudy. The business tycoons are protected by powerful political friends. Who protects the Orang Asli and rural Malay dwellers?

Businessmen treat the river as a means to make money or dump waste. Water is needed for cooling, and possibly transportation of goods, but more importantly, siting factories beside rivers allows easy and illegal disposal of waste products.

Is PN’s Annuar aware that logging does not come under JAKOA’s remit? Issuing mining and logging licences, and the opening up of plantations is not JAKOA’s responsibility. It is the state’s.

Would he care to explain why the state government has not kept closer tabs on logging in Kelantan. Why is there uncontrolled logging?

Is there also an issue with illegal logging? Where are the state’s enforcement officers to scrutinise the areas being logged, and also to monitor forests, for any illegal logging activity?

Many streams which once provided these Orang Asli villages and Malay kampungs with fresh, clean drinking water, have been contaminated by mining, palm oil production, or logging activities. These activities have threatened the only sources of potable water, for many villages.

How many owners of polluting factories, logging activities and plantation operations have been exposed and punished, for polluting the rivers?

A fine of several thousand ringgit is not a deterrent, especially when the business rakes in scores of millions of ringgit annually.

Is there an element of corruption involved for state officials to look the other way? How strict are the deterrents for owners who are found guilty of pollution or illegal/uncontrolled logging?

We have enough laws to prosecute offenders, but they are rarely used because the enforcement agencies are busy pointing fingers at one another.

Likewise, in a by-election, opposing parties blame one another for failing the people.

We have enough laws, but the irony is that we are too lackadaisical about strict enforcement, and stiff deterrents.

Few politicians care about the rural dwellers and their water woes, except when there’s a by-election. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.