Kelantan orang asli issue ultimatum to GE14 candidates

PETALING JAYA: In the centre of a controversial blockade in Gua Musang, the orang asli community in Kelantan has issued an ultimatum to GE14 candidates: accept our manifesto or risk losing our votes.

For the first time ever, Jaringan Orang Asli Kelantan (JOAK) has drafted its own manifesto demanding the recognition and protection of their native rights that they said have long been neglected due to a lack of political will.

JOAK chairman Mustafa Along, 31, said they will be presenting the 14-point manifesto to the leaders of Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan and PAS after nomination day on April 28.

“We are ready to vote for the candidate whose party is brave enough to accept our manifesto,” Mustafa told The Star during an interview here.

In a copy of the manifesto provided to The Star, JOAK demands the recognition of orang asli and orang asal status, customary land rights, education, sustainable development, environmental protection, and representation of orang asli in the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa).

Their priority is for the next government to declare the native rights of the orang asli and formalise this recognition by gazetting their ancestral land as customary native land.

“Malaysia is party to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN-DRIP), but the state and federal governments have not carried out their policies in accordance with the declaration,” Mustafa alleged.

The manifesto demands the Government implement the UN-DRIP in their state policies.

“Our manifesto is clear: we will pick any party which will adopt and implement our demands.

“If not, we have no choice but to cast spoilt votes,” he added.

With over 5,000 orang asli voters in the Gua Musang parliamentary seat, the orang asli swing vote could determine winners and losers in GE14, especially if Malay votes are diluted in a three-cornered fight.

According to the DAP orang asli candidate for Galas, Nasir Dollah, who is also from the Temiar tribe, the Gua Musang parliamentary seat has 43,248 voters, of which approximately 11% are orang asli.

In the Galas state seat, orang asli make up 18% of voters, outnumbering the Chinese (17%) and the Indians (1%). Malay voters make up 63% of the constituency.

“Barisan’s big win in Gua Musang in the previous election is due to the strong support by orang asli voters,” Nasir said.

Umno veteran Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has been the Gua Musang MP for seven terms since 1986.

In GE13 in 2013, he won by 8,413 votes against PAS' Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah.

The orang asli community were previously loyal Barisan supporters, but the sentiment has now changed, Mustafa said.

This assertive participation in politics is new for the community.

Mustafa said they have never had a reason to have a political agenda as they had been living comfortably without interference from outsiders, but many issues have festered and compounded over the past 12 years without a solution in sight.

Their disillusion first started in 2006 when the PAS state government introduced the Ladang Rakyat (People's Farm) programme that saw rapid deforestation in their native land.

The orang asli's way of life is closely tied to the environment and the rampant deforestation has been destroying their livelihood and customs, they say.

“There are 600,000 hectares of forest reserve in Kelantan but 200,000 hectares are set for development and palm oil and rubber plantations.

“This means one-third of the forest reserve, a huge area that covers our ancestral land, will be cut,” said Mustafa, adding that the orang asli have become victims of the state's unsustainable economic programmes.

“If we rely on logging, one day the forest will disappear and the state would also lose its source of income,” he said.

Since 2012, JOAK has set up blockades on an on-and-off basis in Chawas, Tohoi and Kuala Wok to stop logging.

The blockades have sparked aggressive confrontations with the Kelantan Forestry Department and the logging companies, and landed Mustafa in jail three times. He was released without charge all three times.

However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was during the deadly East Coast floods in 2014 that saw 21 people killed, and 237,000 residents being displaced from their homes.

Mustafa said they only received a one-off food aid of 30 bags of rice to be shared amongst a village of 600 to 700 people, and never head or seen any help from any government agencies since.

“We were in a crisis and needed help, but no one came to visit us. It was very disappointing,” he said.

Time is ticking for Kelantan's orang asli community. Their livelihood and heritage are increasingly threatened as the blockade continues indefinitely.

“We are forced to do this or else we face a big risk to our way of life,” Mustafa lamented.