Help us and we'll support you, Orang Asli tell DAP
It was a rare sight which greeted DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang and other DAP leaders during their visit to an orang asli village in Johor yesterday afternoon, as dozens of orang asli children, clad in DAP campaign T-shirts bearing the image of the political veteran, or wrapped head and body in DAP flags, were awaiting their arrival.
It was a rare sight which greeted DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang and other DAP leaders during their visit to an orang asli village in Johor yesterday afternoon, as dozens of orang asli children, clad in DAP campaign T-shirts bearing the image of the political veteran, or wrapped head and body in DAP flags, were awaiting their arrival.
In fact, DAP and PAS flags were flying everywhere in Kampung Orang Asli Simpang Arang.
Accompanied by Johor DAP chief and Skudai state seat candidate Dr Boo Cheng Hau and national publicity secretary and incumbent Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, Lim attended a high-tea session at the village located in the parliamentary constituency of Gelang Patah.
Lim is contesting for the seat against incumbent and caretaker Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman.
When Lim took out two plastic balls printed with the DAP mascot Ubah to give as gifts, he was mobbed by the children who kept calling him “Uncle! Uncle!” with their hands raised up high to reach the balls.
Later, while he was waiting for his turn to give a speech to the villagers, the children surrounded him and several of them cooled him using the Ubah fans, another DAP campaign merchandise.
Some 100 residents had gathered at the main road of the village to listen to speeches by the DAP leaders.
Soon after Lim arrived, several angry orang asli leaders rained him with complaints of the problems faced by the community.
Among the issues raised were the encroachment of their native customary rights lands (NCR), the demolition of their ancestors' burial ground and the disappearance of their river catchment areas in the mangrove forest due to development projects in Iskandar Malaysia.
Villagers: Leave if you cannot help us
The village, located deep inside a oil palm plantation and beside Sungai Pulai and houses some 180 families of Seletar tribe, is situated within the special economic zone of Iskandar Malaysia which has been undergoing rapid development since several years back.
“Let us be very clear with you. If you can help us, we will support you," Orang Asli Seletar Welfare Association chairperson Iskandar Loki told Lim.
“In parliament, if I win the election, certainly the problems of the Seletar people would be raised,” was Lim’s response.
“When I become the MP of Gelang Patah, I would be the voice of the Seletar people in parliament and in the whole Malaysia,” he promised, adding that a new government under Pakatan Rakyat would even prioritise the problems faced by the indigenous communities.
His speech was met with several rounds of applause.
However, not all villagers were ready to elect an opposition member as their representative in parliament.
Iskandar, when met by KiniTV that he and 50 percent of the villagers who followed him, will vote for anyone who can solve their problems before the polling day.
“If you cannot solve it, please leave. We are sorry,” he said, but added that he is willing to give Lim a chance.
Another villager, by the name of Komeng, also told KiniTV : “If the government can return our lands to us, I could vote for the government.
“If they help us, we will help them regardless of whether they are BN, PAS, Rocket (DAP) or PKR.”
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