The Perak Orang Asli Advisory Council will be fine-tuned and strengthened to enable it to carry out programmes and overcome problems facing the Orang Asli community in the state.     

Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir said the aspects that would be given priority were education, health, economy, land and culture.     

"Efforts to empower the Orang Asli community will be carried out through a comprehensive and effective action, unlike previously, which was done on an adhoc basis," he told reporters after attending a programme for the Orang Asli organised by the Darul Ridzuan Institute in Ipoh today.

He said the council, previously represented by officers from government departments and agencies, like the Orang Asli Affairs Department, as well as the Orang Asli village heads, would now have professionals and thinkers.     

On land issues, Zambry said he had instructed the Land and Mines Department to look into the matter.

- Bernama