The adverse impacts on the lives of the Orang Asli around Tasik Chini in Pahang, reflected in a documentary produced by Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M), elicited demands from the viewers at a preview screening that it be widely distributed around the country.

tasik chini 120805 waters Titled ‘Hacking at Harmony: Tasik Chini An Ecosystem on the Brink', the documentary was screened at a hotel in Subang Jaya yesterday and among the audience were some 40 Orang Asli from Tasik Chini.

After the 37-minute video ended, they and representatives of NGOs present demanded that action be taken to protect the rights of the indigenous people and the environment.

The documentary started with some background on Tasik Chini, being the country's only entry in the Unesco biosphere list, and how the lives of the Orang Asli were centred around it.

The parts where it detailed the effects of mining and logging activities on Tasik Chini stand in sharp contrast with the once idyllic and lotus-filled lake.

NONE The video also features interviews with the Orang Asli, which served to give the audience the community's views on the destruction of their environment. Seeing themselves or their friends appearing in the video drew cheers from the Orang Asli present.

There was much applause at the end of the video and many in the audience stood up to voice their views during the question-and-answer session that followed.

Some of the Orang Asli spoke up, decrying that the situation in Tasik Chini had worsened after the footages seen in the documentary, which was shot two to three months ago.

Orang Asli representative Mohammad Ismail called for a law that would grant the Orang Asli control over their lands.

Facing ecological collapse

TI-M secretary-general Josie M Fernandez said there should be a strategy to campaign for the changing of the laws and empowering the Orang Asli, instead of just airing the documentary.

NONE According to Josie ( right ), the video shown today was only for a preliminary viewing as it needed to be updated on the current situation at Tasik Chini, as well as a Bahasa Malaysia version produced.

The launching of the documentary was accompanied by a forum on 'Threatened Forest Sites in Malaysia', with the speakers highlighting similar cases in the Segari Melintang Forest Reserve in Perak and the Tranum Forest Reserve in Pahang.

The Tasik Chini Orang Asli community has appealed directly to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on their problems through a memorandum submitted on April 10 this year.

The memorandum calls for the rehabilitation of the lake, which is facing ecological collapse as a result of the mining and logging activities in the area.