The question that has been nagging me since my several visits to Orang Asli Posts and Kampongs in Cameron Highlands in the past three weeks is whether after sixty years, Orang Asli are full citizens of Malaysia?

They are the first inhabitants of Malaysia but are they full citizens of this country sixty years after Merdeka?

This seems to be such a stupid question for every Malaysian is a full citizen of Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

If Pakatan Harapan can win in Cameron Highlands by-election on Saturday, I will convene a Pakatan Harapan conference of Orang Asli represnetatives in Cameron Highlands to draft a blueprint for Orang Asli to become full citizens of Malaysia.

Although Barisan Nasonal and PAS leaders and propagandists had spread the toxic and vicious falsehoods before the last general election that I was the real political power in Pakatan Harapan and will become the Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the 14th General Election, events have exposed these lies and falsehoods.

I am not even in the Cabinet and I cannot speak on behalf of the Pakatan Harapan Government. Read the rest of this entry »

I confess that I was not aware of the truly miserable, atrocious and inhumane plight of the Orang Asli sixty years after Merdeka until in the last three weeks in my several visits to the Orang Asli Posts and kampongs in Cameron Highlands.

I dare say that 99 per cent Malaysians are not aware of the miserable plight of the Orang Asli – as all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, culure or region, would have felt ashamed and outraged of the true condition of the Orang Asli sixty years after Merdeka.
Read the rest of this entry »

The former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak made a highly-publicized Cameron Highlands by-election campaign trail but he did not visit Orang Asli kampongs in Pos Lenjang.

Why? Is it because Malaysia will know how bad is the 30 km “roti canai” road in Pos Lenjang, the worst road I have travelled in the past three weeks in Cameron Highlands and a shame and outrage to the claim that Malaysia is a developed nation?
Read the rest of this entry »

The question that has been nagging me since my several visits to Orang Asli Posts and Kampongs in Cameron Highlands in the past three weeks is whether after sixty years, Orang Asli are full citizens of Malaysia?

They are the first inhabitants of Malaysia but are they full citizens of this country sixty years after Merdeka?

This seems to be such a stupid question for every Malaysian is a full citizen of Malaysia.

But the question that demanded answer is how can anyone claim to be a full citizen of Malaysia when he or she is denied of the most basic infrastructures whether proper access road, clean water, electricity; deprived of the most elementary needs whether education, health and medical care, housing and economic opportunities; and most important of all, denied of their traditional land rights.

It took me two hours to travel the 30km “roti canai” road to Pos Lenjang – when it could be travelled in 20 to 30 minutes. It was an unforgettable and most agonizing journey on probably the longest and worst “roti canai” road not only in Cameron Highlands but the whole country, a road which served some 20 Orang Asli kampongs. Read the rest of this entry »

2019 should be a good year for Orang Asli in Malaysia as it opened with another New Malaysia landmark when the Attorney-General Tommy Thomas made history with the Federal Government acting on behalf of the Temiar Orang Asli to file a civil suit against the Kelantan State Government and its agencies to prevent the destruction of native land for commercial profit.

The other defendants in the suit include the Kelantan state director of Lands and Mines, the Kelantan state director of the Forestry Department, and five private entities. Read the rest of this entry »

The Cameron Highlands by-election is a sign of a new Malaysia where firstly, there is restoration of the rule of law and secondly, there are heroes who are prepared to come forward to expose money politics and corruption.

There would be no Cameron Highlands by-election if there is no change of Federal Government in the 14th General Electionto build a new Malaysia to restore the rule of law and the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary.

More important, there were people’s heroes who were prepared to come forward to expose money politics and corruption, taking the case all the way as witnesses in the High Court of Kuala Lumpur, resulting in the Election Court declaring on Nov. 30 last year that the MIC National Vice President, C. Sivaraajh’s election as Member of Parliament of Cameron Highlands in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 was null and avoid because it was tainted by corrupt election practices of vote-buying. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a confession to make – I never expected the condition of the Orang Asli in the country in so many Orang Asli kampongs that I have visited in the past two weeks to be so dire, primitive and atrocious that all Malaysians must feel both shocked and ashamed that we have Malaysians in 2019 living in conditions denied of the most basic of fundamental human rights – no proper roads, no basic infrastructure facilities like clean water and electricity; poor education and medical services, lack of proper housing and job opportunities; and most important of all, the long-standing denial of the land rights of the Orang Asli.

A new mindset is necessary if we are to learn from the 60-year failure to eradicate the poverty, backwardness and marginalisation of the Orang Asli if we are to develop a new policy to break the back of the problem. Read the rest of this entry »

Former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, cannot be more wrong when he claimed that the election court had declared that RM20 “petrol money” was bribery but the even more important questions are Najib’s motives for such a bizarre claim.

Is it to ensure a new culture of integrity and zero tolerance for corruption in Malaysia or is it to frustrate such an effort?

One must admire Najib’s impudence and temerity for trying to use RM20 “petrol money” for Orang Asli to whitewash his RM50 billion 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal and kleptocratic premiership, but faced with 39 criminal charges (undoubtedly with more criminal charges to come) and accused of siphoning off billions from 1MDB, what has Najib got to lose in adopting the most bizarre diversionary tactics?
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Barisan Nasional candidate for Cameron Highlands by-election, Ramli Mohd Nor said yesterday that if he wins the by-election, it will not be based on bribery.

This is a most welcome statement by the Barisan Nasional candidate and I applaud him for it, for there is a very deliberate and systematic attempt to divert attention as to why the election of MIC Vice President, C. Sivaraajh as MP for Cameron Highlands in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 was declared null and void, resulting in the holding a by-election; and in particular the significant role of the Pahang Mentri Besar and State Assemblyman for Jelai, Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail in the money-politics, vote-buying and corrupt election practices during the last general election, which were highlighted in the election court appeal and which Wan Rosdy dared not become a witness to rebut although the election court proceedings were adjourned three times for Wan Rosdy to testify.

Actually the money politics, vote-buying and corrupt election practices in the 14th General Election were not confined to Cameron Highlands, but was fairly routine for most Barisan Nasional campaigns.

The difference was that Cameron Highlands produced 12 “integrity heroes” – eleven of them Orang Asli – who were prepared to testify in open court about the Barisan Nasional’s money politics, vote-buying and corrupt election practices in Cameron Highlands during the last general election! Read the rest of this entry »

PKR Senator Bob Monolan Mohd has kicked up a controversy with his statement in Pos Betau, Jelai yesterday which had been interpreted as a warning to Orang Asli village chiefs (Tok Batin) that their salaries and posts are at stake if they do not support Pakatan Harapan in the Cameron Highlands by-election.

If Monolan had threatened Tok Batins, then he would have committed an election offence which is actionable under the law, but otherwise, if he had merely wanted to point out that that it was unacceptable for Tok Batins to receive their salaries from the Federal Government and continue to be local UMNO heads.
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I spent the whole morning today visiting the ninth Orang Asli Post in Cameron Highlands (Pos Terisu) and the four Orang Asli kampongs in the area.

This marks the end of my pre-by-election visit to all the nine Orang Asli Posts in Cameron Highlands in my three visits to the constituency from December 30, which included being trapped at Kampong Orang Asli Semoi Lama on New Year’s Eve together with MP for Bentong Wong Tack, State Assemblyman for Tanah Rata Chiong Yoke Kong, DAP/Pakatan Harapan Candidate for Cameron Highlands M. Manogaram, cutting from all access to the outside world; crossing the river at Kampong Semoi Lama by driving through it despite its strong currents to reach Orang Asli kampongs in Pos Lenyang and Pos Titom, and I would have ended up in Lipis if my vehicle was swept away by the strong current; as well as my visits to Felda Sungai Koyan and the townships at Bertam Valley, Ringlet, Tanah Rata, Brinchang, Tringkap and Kampong Raja.

It had been quite a hectic but a most informative and educational visits. Read the rest of this entry »