Where’s government help, flood-hit Orang Asli ask

Volunteers preparing to send aid and goods to remote Orang Asli villages in Kelantan, where many flood victims say they have been neglected and overlooked by government agencies. – Pic courtesy of Eliana Lee, February 1, 2015.

One month after the massive floods hit the east coast states of the peninsula and millions of ringgit spent towards relief and recovery efforts, some Orang Asli villages in Kelantan, mainly in the remote areas, remain unreachable.

Feeling neglected and overlooked, some have started to complain why prompt assistance and aid were not provided to them, especially from the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa), which is supposed to help them cope with the situation.

A visit to several remote locations occupied by the Temiar tribe recently revealed that many villages are still cut off from getting much-needed food supplies after the main route linking them to the outside world was damaged.

Many of the Orang Asli met by The Malaysian Insider said they had to trekked for kilomitres through the jungle to get to the nearest relief collection centres or other villages for assistance.

"Since the flooding started until today, Jakoa was nowhere to be seen. We have yet to receive any aid from them," Awir Awie, 28, of Kampung Depak told The Malaysian Insider.

Most of the aid, it was learnt, came from NGOs, volunteer groups, individuals and private companies.

"My family ran out of food and had to flee to the hills because our house was flooded," said Awir, who was met at one of the post-flood relief missions organised by a volunteer group in Gua Musang.

There are also villagers who had to endure a three-hour trek from their village to the nearest grocery shop in Kuala Betis to replenish their food supplies.

Hak Oi Angah of Kampung Guling says the price of rice and petrol has gone up as a result of the floods that hit Kelantan recently. – The Malaysian Insider pic, February 1, 2015."We had to buy food even if the prices are expensive... a bag of rice that used to be only RM18 is now sold at RM30. A litre of petrol costs about RM4 here," 45-year-old Hak Oi Angah of Kampung Guling said.

Hak Oi said villagers, who usually lead independent and self-sustaining lives, have no choice but to buy some of the supplies as all their crops have been destroyed during the floods.

"We had to buy clothes and school supplies for the children, too, as there is no school aid so far," he said.

It was reported that in Kelantan, about 7,995 Orang Asli from 67 villages were affected by the recent floods.

Director-general of Jakoa Datuk Hasnan Hassan had said that the department allocated more than RM2 million for food assistance in 57 Orang Asli villages around Gua Musang since December 28 last year to January 18, 2015.

A total of 1,364 village heads with registered household of 6,820, had received assistance so far.

For the remote areas, Jakoa said it had engaged the help of Fire and Rescue Department, and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) to deliver the aid to outposts such as Pos Simpor, Pos Gob, Pos Bihai, Pos Belatim, Pos Balar, Pos Hau, Pos Hendrop, Pos Tohoi and Pos Pasik.

Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Kelantan treasurer Jamali Ayau said despite Jakoa's help, there were still many villages that had yet to receive any assistance from the authorities.

"There are many villages in the interior that have yet to receive any help and are relying on assistance from NGOs and volunteers," he said.

Many of the Orang Asli met by The Malaysian Insider although acknowledging the difficulty of government aid reaching them, expressed hope that Jakoa would provide the necessary assistance.

"Since the floods, Jakoa never came. Fortunately, after the flood, there are some NGOs able to reach us to provide assistance," said Uda, 50, of Kampung Ber.

Impoverished Kelantan was one of the worst-hit states in northeastern Malaysia, which bore the brunt of the country’s worst floods in decades.

At its height, the floods displaced more than 200,000 in Pahang, Kelantan, Perak, Terengganu and Johor.

- TMI