
The minister, who acknowledged that issues affecting the Orang Asli communities fall under the jurisdiction of different ministries and agencies, said the failure to address them in a holistic manner would continue to result in “political football” between different ministries.
Nik Nazmi was responding to a question during a panel discussion on whether his ministry and the rural and regional development ministry had come up with joint efforts to protect the livelihood and land of the Orang Asli communities.
“The answer is ‘not yet’. I agree that we do not have a common policy,” Nik Nazmi said during a regional workshop on sustainable development at a university here.
“I have a few dialogues every year where NGOs arrange for me to meet Orang Asli communities. They raise issues on conservation and the challenges they face, such as plastics in the rivers and forest encroachments.
“They are at the frontlines when you talk about deforestation. It has a major impact on them as they are losing their ‘supermarket’ and the materials they use to build their homes.”
The Orang Asli development department (Jakoa), which is an agency under the rural and regional development ministry, is entrusted with managing the affairs of the Orang Asli community.
Land ownership issues fall under state jurisdiction while environmental conservation, biodiversity and logging fall under the natural resources and environmental sustainability ministry’s purview.
Ramli Nor, the country’s sole Orang Asli MP, previously proposed amending the constitution to include Orang Asli matters under the Concurrent List, particularly to address land ownership issues.
The Concurrent List contains matters where the legislative authority is shared between the federal and state governments.
Ramli, who is deputy speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, said the proposed amendment would place the duty of taking care of the Orang Asli in the same constitutional schedule, “meaning both the federal and state governments must be responsible, because there are many issues, like land, forestry and the community’s welfare”.
Various Orang Asli tribes have been engaged in legal disputes in the past over what is said to be their native customary land. They claimed that their ancestral land had been cleared without their consent, often for logging and cultivation. - FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.