Be courteous towards your own kind, Orang Asli activist tells Ramli

An Orang Asli activist has urged Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Ramli Mohd Nor to be more courteous and exercise tolerance when dealing with dissenters from the indigenous community.

This comes after the Cameron Highlands MP lodged a police report against an Orang Asli man who allegedly defamed Ramli through TikTok last week.

Activist Zurdi Baharu said while he disagreed with the man’s choice of words when criticising Ramli (above), the deputy speaker should have taken the high road instead of lodging a criminal report.

“If you could be so courteous in the Dewan Rakyat by giving the opposition chances to retract their slanderous statements, perhaps you can also show similar tolerance with your own kind.

“We avoid touching 3R (issues) to instil unity by being courteous, not by using punishment that will further degrade the Orang Asli,” he said in a statement today.

Ramli is an Orang Asli from the Semai and Temiar tribes and is the sole Orang Asli representative in the Parliament’s lower house.

Zurdi further called on the deputy speaker to have closer engagement with the Orang Asli grassroots whom he said have yet to understand Ramli’s agenda for their community, including the plan to improve the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 through a constitutional amendment.

“Such big agendas would surely be misinterpreted if you do not engage and listen to the Orang Asli community, who are not as expert or as ‘gah’ (high class) as you are,” he said.

Yesterday, Ramli lodged a police report against a man he accused of smearing his reputation as the sole Orang Asli lawmaker.

The BN MP reportedly said his report was lodged at Sentul police station under Sections 504 and 505(c) of the Penal Code.

The two provisions criminalise intentional insults that provoke a breach of peace, as well as statements conducing to public mischief with intent to incite.

Ramli said he will also consider filing a defamation suit against the TikTok account owner.

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