Making up only 0.5 per cent of the country’s population, a large number of the Orang Asli are still located in the remotest areas of Malaysia’s rainforests. The Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli, JHEOA – Department of Orang Asli Affairs, estimates that currently less than 100,000 (0.4 percent of the country’s population) Orang Asli people remain in the remote pockets of Peninsular Malaysia. Many were relocated from their ancestral lands under resettlement schemes – some by choice, others by force – to make way for agriculture, development projects and introduction into the mainstream. However, large numbers of Orang Asli still prefer to reside in the alternate world of Malaysia’s rainforest.
In comparison to the rest of the population, the Orang Asli still lacks modern education, economy and health. JHEOA faces substantial problems to provide basic health treatment and medications because of the remoteness of villages, many which are inaccessible without 4WD vehicles, boats and helicopters. Although government medical programmes exist to assist these communities, some are nearly unreachable due to the harsh terrain.
Under a medical aid program, the Malaysian four-wheel drive community carry doctors and medications to remote Orang Asli villages and set up weekend clinics. This project is in cooperation with the Ipoh General Hospital, which provides the volunteer doctors, specialists such as paediatricians and gynaecologists, medications, multivitamins and other necessary items to treat the Orang Asli.
Part of this text is extracted from an article by Sidah Salleh
Photos originally added on Jun 02, 2005
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