Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang alleged that the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (JHEOA) has been "negligent and irresponsible" in failing to protect the rights and interests of an Orang Asli village caught in a recent financial scandal.

Referring to the case of the Orang Asli from Lembah Linggiu, Johor, whose plight malaysiakini carried in a news report on July 9, he suggested in Parliament today that a Commission on Good Governance be created to investigate failures of ministries and government departments who deliver inefficient services such as JHEOA in this scandal.

Lim, who is the Ipoh Timur MP, highlighted the news story in Parliament during his debate on the 2003 Supplementary Estimates Supply Bill.

A group of Orang Asli from three villages in Lembah Linggiu have accused their lawyer of 'fraud and embezzlement' resulting in their prolonged state of poverty despite being awarded millions in court.

They claimed that their lawyer (who has denied all allegations of fraud) has not given them their fair share of the RM38 million awarded to them by the Johor High Court in a landmark court ruling in 2000.

The court awarded them the money after the group had sued the Johor State government for taking away part of their land used for livelihood and resources, to build a dam that would supply water to both Johor and Singapore.

Lim pointed fingers at the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development as well as the JHEOA, a department under the ministry.

"This scandal is an indictment on the ministry which must bear responsibility, as this case highlights the department's failure to protect the interests and improve the quality of life of the Orang Asli " he said.

Trustees

Lim accused the JHEOA of pleading ignorance to the case when its Johor state department director Mohamed Bakhtiar was reported in the Malay Mail on Friday as saying he was unaware of the allegations made by the Orang Asli and considered it as a "dispute between individuals and a lawyer".

Bakhtiar was reported to have said that the department had no authority to intervene as the lawyer had a court order making him the trustee of the money and he had not received official complaints from the Orang Asli.

The JHEOA Kota Tinggi District officer Amir Fuzi Baharuddin echoed its director's message to malaysiakini when contacted yesterday.

Lim said "this is a shocking evasion of responsibility by the JHEOA to look after the welfare and interests of the community as well as a misrepresentation of facts, especially when the High Court order named the department's director general as a trustee".

The court order by High Court judge Mokhtar Sidin who presided over the case stated that "the Director General (DG) of the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli, Malaysia shall be appointed the additional trustee to the Trust for the time being'.

The order which was filed on June 5, 2000 also indicated that two out of the three village headmen from Lembah Linggiu along with their lawyer were the other trustees to RM22 million which forms part of the award.

Lim also called on the police and the Bar Council "to get to the bottom of the case, where the real beneficiaries of the money seem not to be the Orang Asli but the millionaire lawyers and a tout".

The tout he referred to was a middle man who had received RM 2.2 million for introducing the lawyer to the Orang Asli.