Tijah Yok Chopil and Colin Nicholas said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali was being presumptuous when he said his ministry was looking at getting Orang Asli to work in the plantation sector and earn up to RM3,000 a month each.

Tijah, of Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia, told FMT more than 90% of the community were already in various types of plantation and farming work in Pahang, Johor, Perak and Selangor.

“Some parts of those lands belonged to our ancestors. We want the government to recognise our ancestral lands, which are now said to be under the federal and state governments,” she said.

Once the recognition had been attained, she said, the Orang Asli could cultivate their own land instead of working for other people.

The Orang Asli have been seeking to regain their ancestral lands from the government for a long time. They were cultivating forest products on the customary lands for decades, but many of these lands now come under state governments and are no longer considered as reserves.

Nicholas, the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns coordinator, said Khairuddin should explain why he thought the Orang Asli would be willing to work for RM3,000 a month.

Ten years ago, he said, those given 2.4 ha under the old Felda scheme were already earning between RM2,000 and RM5,000 a month.

He scoffed at the idea of asking the Orang Asli to work for wages on land that he said was rightfully theirs.

Until the 1980s, he noted, the Orang Asli cultivated their own lands and earned according to the effort they put in.

Under the government’s current development plans, Orang Asli lands are given to large corporations and cooperatives to cultivate on behalf of the community. The corporations hire foreign workers in palm oil and rubber estates.

In return, the Orang Asli are given between RM200 and RM800 a month as shareholders, according to Nicholas.

“If they work on their own land, they can earn more,” he said.