Almost all of Malaysia's Orang Asli are locked into poverty and struggling

The Orang Asli of the Pos Lanai village in Pahang use boats to transport their forest durian to urban centres for sale. Revenues that Orang Asli earn from these activities are enough only to put them in the bottom income bracket. — JEFFRY HASSAN

Virtually all Orang Asli households in Peninsular Malaysia are in the income bracket of the poorest 40% of Malaysians, says the nongovernmental organisation (NGO) Center for Orang Asli Concerns.

The centre estimates that 54,600 – or 99.29% – of all Orang Asli households earn below RM4,000 a month, putting them in the B40 category.