An amorous rendevous behind lush green bushes or in the river may seem like a titillating prospect for some.

But for Orang Asli villagers who stumble upon such acts of uninhibited passion in their backyard, the situation only arouses anger.

This is the predicament faced by the Semai villagers of Kampung Sungai Tesong in Sungkai, Perak.

Parents are forced to be ever vigilant when leading their children around the village grounds in fear of an unintended lesson on the ‘birds and the bees’.

Met recently, the villagers pinned the blame on outsiders who attend the adventure camps and nature parks in the vicinity, which often see couples slipping behind a bush to indulge in an adventure of another sort.

kampung orang asli sungai tesong 120208 tijah yok chopil According to Orang Asli activist Tijah Yok Chopil, these couples are turning to the dense jungle to share intimate moments in a bid to steer clear of the prying eyes of Islamic religious authorities.

"I once led a group of children to wash our cooking utensils after a meal when we suddenly came across a couple doing it on a large rock in the middle of the river," she recalled.

"I covered my face and some of the children’s with the cooking pan that I was holding, but the others looked on. The couple was very embarrassed when they saw us.

"The villagers come across couples doing this almost everyday now: Amongst the trees, in the rivers and on the rocks," she added.

Protest letter

This led the village action committee head Rahmat Yok Bek to write to the Batang Padang district and land office last month regarding the issue and the sprouting of adventure camps around the village.

kampung orang asli sungai tesong 120208 children "There are outsiders bringing bad influences on our young, such as those who engage in indecent acts in the woods of our land. This is happening on a near-daily basis," he stated in the letter dated Jan 4.

He complained that these ‘development projects’ take place without any consultation with the villagers.

"All kinds of development that are of no benefit to us is happening around us, while our ancestral lands are getting smaller and smaller in size," he added.

Citing the issue as being symptomatic of the greater social and economic problems faced by the community, Rahmat also protested moves by one Ipoh-based company to set up an adventure camp on the village grounds.

He stated that on Nov 4 last year, the company’s workers arrived in a truck laden with cement bags and other building materials and equipment.

They were intent on laying the foundation for the camp without "informing, negotiating or discussing (their plans) with us", he said further.

Several police reports and complaints to the local Department of Orang Asli Affairs were lodged and since then, the workers have not appeared.

However, the villagers stressed that they are not letting their guard down.

kampung orang asli sungai tesong 120208 houses They said other companies have succeeded in setting up their camps because the villagers did not stand their ground from the beginning and consistently thereafter.

Compounding the problem, Rahmat told Malaysiakini, is the lack of sympathy on the part of local authorities to the villagers’ ancestral land claims.

This is because their land has not been gazetted as an Orang Asli reserve, he said.

"Even with the camps that already exist we have problems of stumbling upon naked couples in the middle of our forests. Imagine if more such camps spring up?" he added.