Orang Asli want funds disbursed immediately

JOHOR BARU: The Orang Asli community hopes that the money allocated to them under Budget 2022 will be disbursed to them without delay.

Tanai Tom, who is a member of the Orang Seletar tribe from Kampung Bakar Batu Perling near here, said the allocation would help ease their hardship.

“Most of us are fishermen and we depend on the sea for our livelihood,’’ she said.

Tanai, 62, said their livelihood had been affected with reduced catch from the sea since a multi-billion ringgit waterfront development project, located barely 2km from the village, started in 2013.

The grandmother of 10 lamented that land reclamation had damaged mangrove plants which were breeding grounds for ketam bangkang (mud crabs), edible sea snails and seashells.

Tanai’s son Anjang Linggi, 42, who lives in Kampung Sungai Danga, is hoping that the government will increase the RM250 monthly allowance to RM300 in next year’s budget.

“We were hoping for some good news but there was none,’’ he said.

Anjang said Orang Asli fishermen had to fork out extra money to travel to the port at Tanjung Pelepas by boat about 14km from the village.

“We used to fish just near the waters of Danga Bay but there is no more fish due to the land reclamation,’’ he said.

Fisherman Suni Pulau, 47, from Kampung Simpang Arang in Gelang Patah welcomed news of the RM274mil allocation for the Orang Asli community under Budget 2022.

“Life is getting harder for us but we have no choice but to depend on the sea for our livelihood,’’ he said.

Suni proposes that the allocation be used for sustainable income generating programmes or activities.