Instead, Asli president Rashid Ka’ said the party, established at the end of last year, simply seeks to champion the cause of the Orang Asli using a political platform of its own, rather than through NGOs.

“Our goal is to fight for the Orang Asli community, not to fight the government. For now, our stand is that we fully support the unity government,” he told FMT.

He also denied suggestions that Asli’s existence was likely to create divisions within the Orang Asli community.

Orang Asli senator Ajis Sitin supports the new party, saying it should be given a chance to prove itself. He said Malaysians ought to take the party’s formation as a positive development.

“For so long, the Orang Asli community has been divided by political differences, even in their respective villages and settlements. Asli could be the catalyst for the Orang Asli to unite and galvanise the community to achieve progress.

“We should not belittle their struggle,” he said.

Ajis, a former director-general of the Orang Asli development department (Jakoa), urged Asli to convince the unity government that its cause is more than just empty talk.

Registered with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) in December last year, Asli has already established state chapters throughout the peninsula.

Cameron Highlands MP Ramli Nor previously criticised the party’s formation, saying it was “unhealthy” and would divide the Orang Asli community.

Ramli, Malaysia’s first Orang Asli MP, claimed that any division within the community would lead to a decline of the community’s political power.