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©Malaysiakini (Used by permission)
by Soon Li Tsin

A roomful of lawyers received a lesson in ‘Orang Asli 101' when a Semai native gave an earnest and witty testimonial of how she views city life.

Tijah Yok Chopil from Bidor, Perak, kept the delegates at the 14th Malaysian Law Conference laughing and nodding when she painted the simple life as an Orang Asli.

"As we all know, we have been categorised as the hardcore poor, uneducated, under-developed and unprofessional in the country. But let it be known that in our villages, everyone still has a roof over their head.

"Nobody ever has to beg for food or rape or steal. We never have to resort to crimes like those who live in the city," she said in Malay at a forum entitled 'Orang Asli and Our Constitution - Protecting Indigenous Customs and Cultural Rights'.

Tijah explained that the Orang Asli are very proud of their culture, customs and beliefs which are very much tied to their land.

She said the community never had to worry about the country's economy because they have been brought up to sustain a living without being too dependent on money.

"We are immune to the country's economic performance. If the economy's bad, we are poor. If it is good, we are still poor but we have never felt that we needed to run away to another country when things are not going well," she mused to a loud applause.

"We have little pressures in life. In the papers we read about rape and theft but that does not happen in the villages.”

The author of several books on Orang Asli, she said the environment and nature are safe under their community.

"Our customs teach us to respect the balance in nature. We want development in our villages of course but if it separates us from our history and culture, we will become like city folk and we don't want that," she said.

‘Cheated’ by guardians

Tijah cited several cases when the government and the Department of Orang Asli Affairs had misled the people by promising development in return for natural resources.

"They plan their Felda and Felcra programmes that only benefit the Malays and not us. They offer us 40 sen for a kilogram of rubber by making us tap our own trees.

"How does that develop the area and how can this solve our poverty problem? They also promise to give us RM3,000 (for the labour) but pay us RM500 instead.”

She admitted that she did not know what constitutional provisions there are for Orang Asli but said she understands that the Federal Constitution protects all people living in the country.

"We have celebrated 50 years of independence and yet, our rights are not protected and respected by the government.

"We are not protected by the Federal Constitution. We have our own constitution. If people don't care about our lives, we will carry on in the way we want," she added.

Other panellists included Universiti Malaya academician Dr Ramy Bulan and Centre for Orang Asli Concerns co-ordinator Dr Colin Nicholas.

This is one of many sessions in progress as the three-day conference winds up today. A special session on the ‘Lingam tape’ will take place this afternoon.

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