Government talks with Orang Asli a failure, says activist

Activist Tijah Yok Chopil wants better communication between the government and Orang Asli communities.

KUALA LUMPUR: An Orang Asli activist has alleged that the various government engagements with her community have failed to achieve their purposes because of a lack of sincerity on Putrajaya’s part.

“The result of every single discussion or negotiation that has been made doesn’t reflect the wishes of the Orang Asli community,” said Tijah Yok Chopil, who heads Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia.

Speaking to FMT at the venue of a forum on the history of indigenous communities, she said the announcements made after such discussions were often misleading because they gave the false impression that the community had agreed to the resolutions or conclusions.

According to her, the problem with such engagements is that the Orang Asli representatives are often outnumbered by officials from government agencies.

“The representatives may feel that they are not able to voice out the community’s concerns because they are in the minority,” she said.

“To me, the negotiations that have been held all this time are not sincere.”

Orang Asli activist Tijah Yok Chopil.

She also alleged that the Orang Asli representatives in the various joint committees were often rendered ineffective by the conditions imposed on them by the government.

“For example, these representatives may be forced to agree to a condition that they can’t carry the information they get from the meetings to the grassroots. So we at the grassroots level don’t know much of what is discussed.”

Tijah suggested the inclusion of elected community representatives in future discussions on Orang Asli issues and proposed that engagements on any particular issue be conducted in multiple sessions until the concerns are properly addressed.

She also called for an increase in public discussions with groups of Orang Asli as opposed to selected representatives.

“The government must open up more space for our involvement,” she said. “The Orang Asli know and understand what they need, what problems they face, what kind of history they have experienced.”

She urged activists and government agencies to be sincere and respectful when assisting the community and not see them merely as “lesser beings in need of development”.

“We have our own thoughts, opinions, feelings, identity and dignity,” she said. “We have the right to decide what we want. So if you want to help, you must help with respect.”

Tijah complained that the history syllabus used in schools excluded information about the “true struggles” of the Orang Asli.

“The history about us being discriminated against and colonised does not exist,” she said. “The only thing that most of us know is that for the past 61 years, the indigenous communities have supposedly been well taken care of in every respect. But that is not true.”

She said this was one reason for the failure of other Malaysians to acknowledge Orang Asli rights.

She urged the government to begin collecting what she called the “real history” of the indigenous communities by encouraging the members of the communities themselves to tell their stories.

“The history needs to be amended, not only for the betterment of the indigenous children, but for the benefit of other Malaysian citizens as well because the more we know about each other’s history, the more harmony we will have.” -FMT