“The government should do something la, it’s their responsibility what”. a typical Malaysian at the mamak stall.
We usually use this excuse or blame others when something goes wrong or something is not done in this country. It’s an easy way to keep giving excuses about things we think we can’t control… ‘why this happened’, ‘why didn’t they take action’, ‘they are all corrupted’, ‘it’s their responsibility’.
Who are ‘they’? People in the Malaysian government, we say, it’s all politician, we say, while having our hot coffee at a local ‘mamak’ stall. We think the label ‘government’ or ‘politician’ is this powerful title or brand that will magically just make everything happen. Like God.
The Government or politician are made of normal people too, like you and me. The same as doctors or teachers. A doctor will treat a patient for a small fee. As it’s a profession. He helps humans but only if it’s profitable in some way. Not many doctors here will go out of their way to help the poor or needy for free on a daily basis. How would doctors survive then?
The same is for those in politics, it’s a profession. Managing the lands and making changes is part of the job profile, it comes with a salary and power. Some do it if it’s profitable to them, some don’t do anything at all. Some are just corrupted.
But here’s the good news, we don’t need politicians to do something for the good for mankind and our future. We only need empathy, passion and action among ourselves. Every human is born with love and passion, then we grow up to learn about integrity and some don’t. So every human being here can do something for it’s own kind, regardless of race or religion. Yes?
So the question here is, if we have seen all this issues happening around us today, like environment issues, rivers are being polluted, floods are rapid today, landslides in your city, human rights issues, poverty and racial discrimination. Aren’t we part of this too?. We have been living all our lives in an unconscious state of mind, for so long, we are never present with reality and humanity.
I met this girl in Papar, Sabah at the debate session with the local authorities in her village. They were fighting against the forest clearing that is causing floods and landslides since 2014 in the Penampang area. Of course due to corrupted officials.
She stood in front of the microphone and passionately spoke, “I have been living here since I was born, the waterfalls were clean, the air was fresh and we saw beautiful mountains, but today it is all going away. We have landslide and floods, the rivers are polluted and the mountains are bare. This is because of development projects that have no integrity, that’s all. They only want to make a quick profit and not care how it effects the people living here for generations. I am not doing this for myself, but my future generation! I will live on here for years and my future generation too, but this businessmen will leave soon and all they have left us with is this.”
Later she told me, “We are not against development, but it should benefit us too and our culture, not take it away.” Made me think. Funny how the developers and this land owners are mainly older Malaysians, those days the older generation will care for the lands as thats the legacy they leave behind for us, but today they are destroying it for us. And the younger generation is fighting back.
It’s the same today for the Orang Asli (Tribes) here in Malaysia. The forest and rivers are a place where the orang asli (tribes) have flourished for generations. Today it’s been taken away from them for this kind of ‘development’ that only profits a small greedy group. They are ask to leave the lands when they don’t follow our ways, our religion or the modern society. Is this right?
We forget that we are part of the issues, the people from the cities who grow up working for this companies, government and developers. We think it doesn’t really effect us, these are tribes, they live in the jungles, they will survive, so why bother.
Wrong, it does effect us, today your towns have landslides, your forest is been robbed and is bare naked, your rivers are polluted, your cities are flooded and all because the Tribe do not live as they do. Do you see the connection? In my view the Tribes were the Caretakers of our rivers, jungles and forest, they cleaned up after it as it was their home, they believed in it more than any of us.
They don’t just cut down trees and clear lands for a big profit. They used the rivers as a source of water and traveling so it was always clean, it was done out of heritage, cultures and passion. The same way you look after your homes in the cities. With the tribes gone from this forest, force out of their natural habitats, separated from families and not living as they do, the lands are getting destroyed. So who is then taking care of the forest now? The care takers were force to leave their lands, so is this type of development good?
“The Malaysian government rule is, if we don’t develop our lands, they have the right to take it away for us.” – a local friend in Pahang.
So what can you do today? Simple, now it’s time for you to take care of things yourself. Imagine this, if a thousand Malaysians with integrity, would go into this jungles to help the tribes, to start the community again and to educate them about their rights, do you think this developers or governments will destroy their lands or use it to enrich the culture?
They will see the Malaysians are getting together to protect the lands, they will feel your presence there, in the villages, jungles and forest. When tribes get proper homes and a community again, with large populations living on this lands again, the forest life with flourish again, it will get the love it needs.
We should start it first and let the authorities follow us, not the other way around. They might learn something from the people and want to be part of it. Today we have the power of social media, connections around the world, income sources and education. Let’s use it well, for the good of others.
If you are one of them, it starts with a single step, I am going to guide you and do my part too. I have gone into this villages of 50 tribal families here in Pahang, You can start with them to get the ball rolling, They have no homes, uneducated, no clean water, no income source, they live far apart in poverty. Use this as a first platform to learn how to volunteer and be part of something together.
YOU can be part of this new change, it’s your choice from here on, I am only the messenger. The change is one step away, or you can go back to your routine life and keep giving excuses or blaming the ‘government’ at the mamak stalls.
The had broken down houses that looked like they were put together in a day using scarp material from a nearby rubbish dump. The wood was from the fallen trees that they cut with the help of workers nearby. This is in Malaysia? No way! I wondered.
It took me awhile to let it all in and start walking around the forest area visiting all the other families. They live far apart from one another, I am not really sure why but it seems like that each family had it’s group and they lived close by to support each other.
A local starting a new farm again as the old one was destroyed by oil palm developers.
She has a rare skin disorder, she was to shy to come out to meet us. Hiding behind living area.
Catherine inspecting another water source of the Jakun tribe village here in Muadzam Shah, Pahang. They use this for their small farms, cooking, bathing and drinking. Yes drinking too. I didn’t know what to call it, a river, a drain or just a natural wonder.
They have plans to start farming more and dig a water hole but with being uncertain how long they can actually live here freely, the plan seems just to be. According to the tribes, the local authorities can come at any time to start a new oil palm plantation project here, and destroyed everything as how they did previously. So they have to move in further
This is the drinking water. The brown dirty bottle filled with brown dirty water (unfiltered water for some). They had 10-15 bottles like this lying around the shelters. It was really disturbing to me on how can this people be surviving on this kind of environment.
Mainly the children, they all had bloated stomachs, skin infections, bad teeth, sun burned, no clothes, it was just like a scene from Africa, that we see on Discovery Channel. – Jakun Tribe, Pahang
A simple home made by the Jakun Tribe. The need better wooden homes, not brick homes. They don’t to be relocated to bricks homes in a small tiny area. The need the forest to be their playgrounds, the rivers to be their source of living.
If you would like to do something for them, create a project or contribute in some ways. Please get in touch with me.
or Join the iMKIRAN community. Give Light
