The other day, I was just having drinks with a few friends and complaining about life in this country when we came to the topic of who to marry. Well, me being the smart aleck, said that we should all marry Orang Asli (of any native tribes) or a Malay so that all our children will achieve Bumiputra status. In the end, all Malaysians will be Bumis and there will not be a thing called special privileges anymore, hehehe!!
My preference would be East Malaysian Natives as the girls all look pretty hot, especially those of mix marriages (;-D). Secondly almost all of them are Christians, hence the need to convert to Islam is non-existent. How cool is that? Your children can eat pork and still buy houses at a discount!!! Most Peninsular Malaysian natives are muslims, hence the less attractive they are to me.
Well anyways, I was reading thru the news and I came across this article in Malaysiakini. Now I realise that Peninsular Orang Asli do not have bumiputera status!! Read the article below:
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http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/126895
Orang Asli not bumiputera, say experts
Aidila Razak Mar 18, 10 4:18pm
It is a little known fact but the Orang Asli are not included in the
'bumiputera' category under the federal constitution, according to experts
consulted by Malaysiakini.
However a statement by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri
Abdul Aziz in Parliament yesterday suggests otherwise.
Answering a question on the need to clarify the 'bumiputera' status, Nazri
said the definition includes the Malays, the natives of Sabah and Sarawak
and the Orang Asli
Indigenous rights activist Suhaimi Saad said that Article 153 of the federal
constitution reads that the term bumiputera only refers to the 'Malays and
the natives of Sabah and Sarawak'.
The inclusion of the Orang Asli under the 'bumiputera' category will mean
more privileges for the marginalised community, he said.
However, he added, these special privileges will mean nothing if the Orang
Asli are still forced to live in deplorable conditions.
"I know of Orang Asli villagers in Pahang who live on RM10 a month while
others live at rubbish dumps and source food from the trash.
"They live without water or electricity supply and rely on swamps for
drinking and bathing water. So what good are these privileges?" said
Suhaimi - who is also PKR Pahang Orang Asal Affairs chairperson - when
contacted.
Privileges only for select few
According to Suhaimi, who has worked with the community for decades, the
rights of the Orang Asli are actually protected by the Aboriginal People's
Act 1954 but even this has been disregarded.
"The Orang Asli have their own Act but these are all just verbal policies,"
he said.
Nazri's statement also puzzled Pakatan Rakyat coalition advisor Zaid Ibrahim
(right) who pointed out that the minister's ignorance exemplifies the Orang
Asli's plight.
"I have referred to Articles 153 and 161 of the federal constitution [...]
the Orang Asli are not awarded privileges the same as the 'bumiputera'.
"This is the Orang Asli's lot in this country. The minister does not even
know their status, so how can they receive the support required? Only
selected 'migrants' [...] receive privileges," he said.
Commenting on Rural Development Minister Shafie Afdal's statement yesterday,
describing the protest as a 'sightseeing trip', Suhaimi said the government
is now 'becoming cleverer'.
"They are now clever in trying to neutralise the situation. They give free
food and try to make it into a festival but yesterday (was not a sightseeing
trip but) a demonstration," he said.
Orang Asli fought for 50 years
He added the Orang Asli fight was not new and has been going on for 50 years
but there was little to show for it.
"This country should belong to the Orang Asli. But the majority of them live
in situations akin to how Malay villagers used to live in the
pre-independence era," he said.
If the government is serious about assisting the community, he added, they
should look into developing comprehensive programmes to bring down the
economic barriers surrounding them.
"They should develop programmes like Felda. Give the Orang Asli 10 acres of
agricultural land each and another half acre to live on and help them out of
their economic difficulties instead of handing over a pittance," said
Suhaimi.
This will be among the topics discussed at PKR's Orang Asal Convention
scheduled to take place in Pahang this May with the outcome to be used in
formulating Pakatan's policies, he added.
The convention is expected to attract 800 representatives of the Orang Asli
community as well as representatives of the indigenous people in East
Malaysia.
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All these while I thought that all Orang Asli are bumiputeras. I mean Bumiputera literally means, Sons of the Soil. How can the Malays be Bumiputeras? Even they migrated from the Javanese islands. Our Natives were here first and they arent getting the same benefits as the Malays? And we have Iniand Malays, chinese malays, filipino malays, indonesian malays coming over to malay and they have these benefits. No wonder our Orang Asli are still poor!!
And what is the govt doing to help these poor unfortunate people? The are keeping this matter quiet! I mean, if you want affirmative action policies to work, then it must help the poor bumis, and poor bumis shoudl in clude the orang Aslo, irregardless of whether they are from Peninsular or East Malaysia!!!
Sheesh....
Boodyboy, out!!!
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