M Manogaran, who is deputy chairman of DAP’s Pahang liaison committee, told FMT the coalition would get professional land surveyors to use GPS tools to identify and draw the boundaries of all the ancestral lands.
He said the lands currently did not formally belong to the community.
“Right now there is a problem of determining where these lands really are because they are gazetted as either forest reserve or government land,” he said.
“We need to win the state. Then we will have the authority to act.”
He added that it would be even easier to carry out the exercise if PH took over the federal government.
Manogaran, who lost the Cameron Highlands parliamentary race to then-MIC president G Palanivel in the last general election, is expected to be fielded there again for the 14th general election (GE14).
The Orang Asli make up about 20% of the voter population in the constituency.
Manogaran said more than 120 Orang Asli villages in Cameron Highlands were not recognised by the government as parts of ancestral lands.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced RM61.5 million worth of funds for the implementation of the first phase of the Orang Asli Village Water Supply Project in Pahang.
Bernama quoted Najib, who is also Pekan MP, as saying that the allocation would benefit 14 Orang Asli settlements in five districts.
Manogaran however said the allocation was long overdue and questioned the timing of the announcement.
“Malaysians are tired of Barisan Nasional (BN) promising projects and allocations on the eve of an election, especially to marginalised communities like the Orang Asli,” he said.
“I hope BN will keep its promise instead of just announcing something to deceive these people.”
He noted an announcement made several years ago that the government had approved RM15 million in funds for the building of roads to the Orang Asli settlements of Pos Titum and Pos Lenjang and that the roads would be completed by July 2017.
“Today, there are still no signs of work being done,” he said.
Orang Asli in Camerons treated less than human, says Manogaran
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/05/27/orang-asli-–-remembered-only-during-elections/