The omission in our concerns

As much as I appreciate living in the quiet beach town of Port Dickson, I still find myself in dire need for a change of environment, notwithstanding the frequent visits to the concrete jungle we proudly call Kuala Lumpur.

Being a fond lover of nature, I used to enjoy the camping trips with the Malaysian Nature Society. Nowadays, with the reality of priorities, more often than not we find ourselves spending more time working than to unwind and appreciate the very sense of existence.

Thankfully, the one hour drive away from the city is the perfect weekend away from the urban suffocation – Kampung Janda Baik.

Spending the entire weekend had left me a lot to ponder, especially after carefully observing the preservation of Janda Baik’s natural beauty whilst attracting a good revenue of eco-tourism.

What I found to be exceptionally unique about this place was the concept held in the cause for its preservation. The awareness group, Friends of Janda Baik (FOJB) was set up to “promote the awareness and importance of preserving and protecting its ecological system and the beautiful nature of Janda Baik and its surrounding hills and streams, while keeping and sustaining the original existing concept of Malay kampung environment and development”.

Similarly, I feel that such initiatives ought to be further encouraged. However, we often find ourselves not placing as much focus on environmental issues as much as social related ones.

Even topics like climate change have become politically heretical rather than treated as a necessity for continuity of our livelihood. Over and over again, we have talked about sustainable development being made a priority but it has often fallen on deaf ears – simply because many governments across the globe struggle to strike a balance between the health of our planet and the lust of neoliberal capitalism.

The struggle for consolidated, collective effort of all nations for “green-centric” thinking still finds itself relatively futile. Although, the recent historic Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) seems to take an optimistic outlook.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, “We have entered a new era of global cooperation on one of the most complex issues ever to confront humanity.

“For the first time, every country in the world has pledged to curb emissions, strengthen resilience and join in common cause to take common climate action. This is a resounding success for multilateralism.”

Truly enough, dealing with the environment has definitely become one of the most complex issues ever to confront humanity because of our short sightedness in dealing with it.

As for the mention of “every country in the world”, where does Malaysia stand? We have even failed to look at another equally important factor in environmental management – protecting the rights and heritage of those heavily reliant on the very lands we exploit.

Which is why during my weekend stay at Janda Baik, I could not help but to see the attitude towards the village’s environmental preservation to be the perfect model for emulation in the protection of indigenous people’s rights. This thought gained greater contemplation when I visited the Orang Asli Museum at Jalan Gombak.

It is funny how much one can tell about the sheer magnitude of honesty in explaining history from the structure of a museum.

By structure, I do not mean by just the architecture of the building, but its way of presenting “facts” to the public that we are supposed to accept as knowledge. Unfortunately, like all public institutions in this country – even the integrity of our museums might be compromised.

I say this because of the noticeable “gaps” in the representation of the diversity in Orang Asli culture, particularly the spiritual elements that are central in the form of dance, music and customs.

This all may come as to no surprise to yet another assault to our constitutional right to the freedom of religion. After all, it has been highlighted as a clear policy of the Department of Orang Asli Affairs (JHEOA) that in order to properly “assimilate” and “integrate” them into the Malay community, they might have to let go of their ancestral loyalties to embrace modernisation.

In “Living with Periphery: Development and Islamisation of the Orang Asli” by anthropologist Nobuta Toshihiro, it was found that the Islamisation process will solve the problem, with the appointment of 250 Muslim missionaries known as “penggerak rakyat” in 1991.

Evidently, the convenient exclusion of sharing knowledge of these practices may stem from a lack of acceptance due to values that are not compatible with the extreme few.

Another point that seems to be lacking attention would be how we go about dealing with national reconciliation for the protection of indigenous people in post-colonial Malaysia.

Of course, this cannot escape the political rhetoric that underlies the narrative of our history. Sadly, in the case of this museum, a sort of strangeness seems to tangle in the interpretation of the relationship between the British colonial masters and the natives.

This is due to the lack of emphasis in its exhibits, while focusing on the fact they were used as soldiers in the Senoi Praaq Force to battle out against communist propaganda that was spreading in the jungles among the Orang Asli community.

As much as it illustrated that they were not “spared” from being indoctrinated with such ideologies because of a “lack of knowledge of government policies, misinformation designed to incite and alarm the Orang Asli community”.

Moreover, it was noted that the implementation of the Briggs Plan in 1951 gave a “negative impression that the government was trying to eliminate their norms and lifestyle which they had inherited for generations”.

Yet, it was difficult to address the possible neglect of their heritage and how rather cruelly - they have been made to feel so much “otherness” in their own home.

So, where does all of this connect? In relentlessly chasing for inflated development of our natural resources, it might be deemed as a necessity for the relocation of settlements to allow economic growth to happen.

At the same time, the pursuit of progress for our happiness should not be at the expense of others. We are neglecting the need to acknowledge and respect Orang Asli customary land rights which inextricably tie together with their cultural values and principles.

In the face of achieving greater environmental awareness, it is not just about managing our obsessive consumerist lifestyles, but to also realise that the livelihood of some groups are in jeopardy.

I believe that it is vital that we do not make this terrible omission in our concerns for history has never treated ethnocide in a good light.

With the encouragement of more anthropological inputs that serve to understand and empower indigenous people’s rights, perhaps it might inspire greater consciousness about the need to abolish this colonisation mindset that does not contribute to the fairness, equality and justice in our society’s welfare. – December 26, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.