Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) coordinator Colin Nicholas said the issues involving the Orang Asli were big enough to warrant a special ministry.
“It’s time for a new ministry for indigenous people, a new ministry for the Orang Asli, rather than having a redundant ministry for the Federal Territories,” he said at the launch of Suaram’s Malaysia Human Rights Report 2017 yesterday.
Suaram adviser Kua Kia Soong had said the Orang Asli, Malaysia’s indigenous people, were the poorest and most oppressed in the country.
Nicholas agreed, saying most of the people in the community were poor.
“If you talk about good governance, one of your main objectives is to remove poverty. During Najib Razak’s time as prime minister, the poverty rate was less than 3% of the national population.
“But among the Orang Asli, it is 60% of the population, depending on the price of commodities.
“The government said the official figure is 35% but we think it is about 60%. Extreme poverty among the Sabah and Sarawak natives is very high.
“So on those grounds alone, you need special attention, somebody to focus on why they are so poor, why they are being kept in poverty, and how to get them out of poverty,” he told FMT.
Nicholas said recognition of the Orang Asli’s traditional lands was a big issue in the two states, adding that land was a state matter with its own share of problems.
He said having a special ministry to serve the community would ensure proper focus on addressing the major issues, especially poverty.
He also questioned the continued existence of such issues despite many ministers in Sabah and Sarawak belonging to the community.
“They focus instead on national and state development issues,” he said.
According to Nicholas, the Orang Asli in the peninsula form only 0.6% of the population, numbering about 205,000.
Although acknowledging that the issues affecting the Orang Asli wouldn’t be solved just by having a special ministry, Nicholas said at least more attention would be given to their plight.
“The federal government can handle the allocations while the state can solve land matters,” he said, warning however that the ministry must be led by a capable minister who cared for the Orang Asli.
He also said the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) must not be seen as a welfare or charity body. Instead, he said, it needed to be empowered to be more active in fighting for the development and progress of the community.