PETALING JAYA: The livelihood of the Orang Asli community that relies on forest-based economic activities would be affected if the monsoon gets worse, say groups working with the indigenous people.
For some of them, their food sources still depend on the forest’s yield, which is usually affected during the rainy season.
To ensure food security issues can be addressed, the activists said that assistance, especially food aid, must be delivered to the indigenous community immediately.
Centre of Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) coordinator Dr Colin Nicholas said many Orang Asli still relied on forest subsistence, especially emergency crops such as tapioca.
Reflecting on the great floods of 2014 in Kelantan, Orang Asli lands were also affected, causing their crops to be equally devastated.
“As long as the tapioca stays in the ground, it should be fine.
“But when monsoon rains hit and caused floods like in 2014, the soil became soggy and damaged the tapioca crop,” he said.
Nicholas said that they feared a similar situation would happen again as it was expected that this year’s monsoon could be worse.
“To address this, the government agencies through the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should coordinate with each other in delivering the aid as soon as possible.
“It has to be done before the floods come and disrupt the road network reaching the Orang Asli villages,” he said.
The impact of the monsoon on the community also include the reduction of cash flow for Orang Asli, who work as rubber tappers.
He said their income would be highly affected as rubber yields would decrease during the monsoon season.
He added that some of the community depended on harvesting forest products such as petai, durian and rattan, which would also be affected by the monsoon.
Orang Asli Development Cooperative founder Ramesh Arumugam Chettiar said that Orang Asli rubber tappers should receive aid in the form of compensation from the government.
He said that those who rely on forest subsistence would be halted from entering the forests to harvest the crops due to dangerous situations.
