An anthropologist today said the policy of the Orang Asli Affairs Department (JHEOA) of Islamisation and assimilation has brought about deep mistrust towards it by those whose interests it is supposed to represent.

According to Lye Tuck Po, a Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia researcher on the Batek orang asli group, approximately half of the Batek population in Kelantan and most of those in Terengganu have been compelled to convert to Islam by the JHEOA.

The spirit-worshipping Batek are a small group of some 700 to 900 people who live in the lowland rainforests surrounding and within the Taman Negara National Park.

Whenever the JHEOA tries to control the Batek, they move deeper into the forest, said Lye during a seminar titled Environmental degradation, forest people and who gets to speak for whom held at the university.

Lye, who conducted 18 months of fieldwork with the orang asli group, said the Batek have expressed disappointment with the perceptions of JHEOA officers towards them.

JHEOA officers ridicule us for living wild [ways] (liar), she quoted a Batek shaman or spiritual leader as saying.

Lye, during her presentation, said the problem exists because the department has no idea what to do with the hunter-gatherer group who has rejected attempts of assimilation into mainstream society.

The JHEOA does not like the Bateks lifestyle as hunter-gatherers. What they would like is for them to move into permanent settlements and to engage in farming, she added.

As a result of this stance, many Batek families have retreated further into the jungle, thus cutting off their access to amenities such as healthcare, she added.

The death rate among the Batek is high, particularly among children below five years of age, said Lye, revealing that most Batek do not survive beyond their 50s.

Left with marginal jobs

The Batek have been forced to live within Taman Negara because full-scale logging in areas around the park had reduced their territory by up to two-thirds, she said.

However, said Lye, the Batek have also come into conflict with the wildlife department because of the incompatibility of their hunter-gatherer lifestyles and the departments aim at conservation.

The 1987 JHEOA Masterplan states that as long as the Batek are here (in Taman Negara), they can stay but they are not allowed to collect jungle produce to generate any income, said Lye.

She added that the Batek have often come into competition with the local Malay Malaysians for jobs in the parks lucrative tourism industry.

Previously, they worked as guides in the park but these jobs have since been taken over by Malay Malaysian villagers, said Lye, adding that the Batek are left with marginal jobs such as rattan collecting from logged-over forest areas.

The Batek are also anxious for authorities to take into consideration their environmental concerns.

The Gobs (Malay Malaysians) think of building roads, of laying down oil palm. They kill the world. Where would we live? So they kill our world, Lye quoted the Batek.

She added that the Batek have asked for the government to meet with them to discuss how they could contribute in preserving the natural environment of the country.