Orang Asli marginalised by conditions akin to 'apartheid'

Suhakam vice-chairperson Simon Sipaun said the Orang Asli protest in Putrajaya today is a cumulation of frustration among the indigenous community over a period of many years.

"I’m not surprised with the protest. It is expected that the Orang Asli community would protest as they have been marginalised in a system similar to ‘apartheid’," he said without mincing his words.

The Suhakam commissioner described the Orang Asli community’s demands such as recognition of their land rights and representation in the legislative assembly as “fair and proper”.

"I believe that they should be entitled to representation by their ‘own people’ in both Parliament and the state assembly," he said.

He added that they should also be given the same development priorities and preferential treatment enjoyed by the Malays.

When asked to comment on the government’s response to cases involving Orang Asli brought up by Suhakam, he said: "The government has always been defensive when it comes to issues pertaining to Orang Asli issue."

H e said government officers would generally respond: ‘We have done everything for the Orang Asli community in line with the law’.

Sipaun, who is a Kadazandusun from Sabah, considered today’s protest in Putrajaya as an Orang Asli’s version of the 2007 Hindraf protest - an event which saw the awakening of the Indian Malaysian minority about their plight.

Failure of the NEP

Political analyst Khoo Kay Peng ( left ), however, disagree that the protest can be equated with the Hindraf protest.

He said issues pertaining the Indian rights has been widely propagated through both mainstream and alternative media, while only a few alternative media carried news about the Orang Asli rights.

Khoo, said the protest, symbolises the failure of National Economic policy (NEP),which supposedly meant to advance the rights and welfare of the Orang Asli, among others.

‘It should be a wake-up call for the government and they should now accommodate the needs of the Orang Asli rather than trying to slip its NEP’s failure under the carpet," he added.