With landfill closure, govt must ensure Muadzam Shah Orang Asli have immediate & long-term alternatives

Following media coverage of Orang Asli from the Jakun community purportedly living off the landfill where two versions emerged (residing there to scavenge which was disputed by the headman that villagers go there instead to search for recyclables),  Pahang Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (SWCorp) has shut the Muadzam Shah landfill with immediate effect.

But is this move a knee-jerk reaction and does such a response alleviate or aggravate the hardships of the Muadzam Shah Jakun community?

In the immediate interim, what measures has the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) to ensure that the affected Jakun community have subsistence living? What is Jakoa doing while there are Orang Asli kampungs which have no means of sustenance but to scavenge for food? How many more marginalised groups like those from Bukit Ibam and Bukit Biru are there whose living conditions are worse than pets of the wealthy?

Must Jakoa wait for mass deaths like the Bateq community at Kuala Koh, Gua Musang or other media expose like this before Jakoa takes action?

Concurrent short-term measures & long term policies needed

How will their nutritional needs be taken cared of in the mean time since these were clearly lacking? The Ministry of Health could despatch doctors, nutritionists and dieticians to conduct health tests, body check-ups and skin tests besides deworming medicines too.

For more severe cases, the affected Orang Asli will require hospital treatment to ensure their body mass index, weight and nutritional levels reach healthy levels as expected for their age group, and that they have all been dewormed.

Will there be water tankers supplied to ensure there is water supply, or funds released to purchase materials to construct wells so that water maybe sourced from the ground? Installing pipes to ensure clean water supply and solar panels to ensure energy supply should be next on the list of things to do.

As education can remove the vicious cycle of poverty, for the long-term, arrangements must be made to enrol and transport children of school-going  years to attend kindergarten and primary schools with extra coaching needed so that they can master the basic 3Rs. Funds must also be released to them so that they may purchase school uniforms and shoes before entering classes.

A most undesirable situation would be if teachers grow impatient, and fellow classmates belittle Orang Asli pupils for being unable to afford basic school uniforms and school shoes, or coming from illiterate parents, they are unable to read or comprehend the lessons taught. To address this, the Education Ministry could despatch teachers to these villagers ie bringing lessons to open air classrooms among the trees, besides providing hardship allowances to these teachers as a form of motivation and not making it mandatory for the children to be attired in school uniforms and shoes if they cannot afford it.

We also suggest that Jakoa alongside the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries and the Ministry of Rural Development should provide seedlings, cash crops and guidance for the affected Orang Asli on basic farming methods for rural communities.

Dato’ Dr Mah Hang  Soon
MCA Deputy President

-MCA Online-