'FISHING ROD' FOR ORANG ASLI
The Star
1 May 2006
PUTRAJAYA: The government will use the "fishing rod" approach to help the orang asli community improve their standard of living.
Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the government has come up with a three-pronged strategy to help change the lives of the orang asli who are on the brink of poverty.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the most important approach was to create an economic base for the community.
He suggested that the community plant cash crops such as oil palm and rubber as well as manufacture agriculture produce, starting on a small scale.
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Najib trying on a coat made of tree bark presented to him by the Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Association president Majid Suhut at Putrajaya on Sunday.
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"Modern day thinking is not so much the size of land holding but the income," he said, adding that the Government’s approach to help the community was by way of giving the "fishing rod" instead of the "fish" to make them independent in the long-run.
Najib was speaking to reporters after opening the Peninsula Malaysia Orang Asli Association’s 16th annual general meeting here yesterday.
He said the second approach was to ensure opportunities for their children to further their studies at institutions of higher learning while the third involved changing the attitude and mindset among the orang asli to accept changes in their lives.
Najib said the comprehensive plan to upgrade the status of the orang asli was in line with the Government’s decision to eradicate the hardcore poor in all communities by 2010.
He added that the Government would ensure that deserving orang asli students were given scholarships and loans to further their education.
Stressing that education was the key to success, he advised students to study hard and told the parents not to encourage their children to skip school by taking them on trips to the jungle to hunt or look for jungle produce.
However, he said all the Government’s plan and efforts would not be fruitful if the mindset and attitude of the orang asli did not change.
"You must have the intention to change in order to succeed otherwise all plans to upgrade your community will fail."
COAC comment
The Deputy Prime Minister's speech, given off-the-cuff, reflected more that of a politician out canvassing for votes rather than that of a national leader who was listening to the aspirations and calls of the Orang Asli as contained in the speech given earlier by the President of the Peninsula Malaysia Orang Asli Association, POASM.
Either this or he cleverly ignored the real demands of the Orang Asli and condescendingly foisted state-inspired 'analyses‘ and 'solutions' on them.
With a high-ranking government leader having such simplistic perceptions of the Orang Asli situation, it remains unlikely that the Orang Asli ‘problem’ will be addressed soon, at least as far as how the Orang Asli want it to be.
Click on the link to read the text of the POASM President's speech (in Malay).
(In the newsreport above, the non-use of capitals for the term 'Orang Asli' continues to be the practice of The Star – despite being advised way back in 1994 otherwise. Click here to read our letter to The Star regarding this matter.)
