GUA MUSANG: As Umno leaders heap praises on their president Najib Razak at the Umno general assembly and PAS and Umno move closer, a neglected minority community is telling them not to depend on its votes.The Kelantan Orang Asli community is, in fact, threatening to reject the state PAS government and the Barisan Nasional if issues pertaining to ancestral land rights and settlements are not resolved.
Pos Tohoi village head Ahud Duga told FMT the community rejected both state PAS and BN because neither had made good on the numerous promises made during the last general election.
He added that both parties only “baited” the Orang Asli to support them for their own interests.
“After the last general election, no elected representative from PAS or BN came to meet us, be it parliamentarians or assemblymen. All the problems we faced were resolved by NGOs.”
“BN and PAS only come here when there are elections. They come to campaign, give us rice and other things. After they win, we never see them.”
Therefore, Ahud said, the Orang Asli would reconsider giving votes to them because they (Orang Asli) had decided to give their votes to those who helped them.
Ahud reminded Prime Minister Najib Razak not to focus too much on other issues to the point that he forgets about the rights of the Orang Asli.
“My hope is that the Kelantan government will look into our plight and for the Najib-led federal government not to be too occupied with other issues.
“We are Malaysians, too. So Najib should not abandon the Orang Asli and let them struggle themselves.”
Pos Hau village representative Ayap Uda said if PAS or BN did not consider the Orang Asli as Malaysians, they should not beg the community for their support in 14th General Election.“If the government does not help us, then in GE14 don’t ask us to vote, let the Malays in the urban areas vote.
“We will not support PAS or Umno as long as our issues are not resolved. If the government does not give us recognition, we will not vote for them.”
In recent months, the Orang Asli in Gua Musang have set up blockades in an attempt to prevent loggers from entering areas close to their settlements.
The Kelantan logging companies said all logging activities were carried out legally and they should not be blocked by the Orang Asli.
On Tuesday, 47 Orang Asli were detained by the authorities after they refused to move from the blockade. They were released yesterday.