Orang Asli, Foreigners and Indigenous Intelligence

Aliran is deeply concerned by Orang Asli Affairs Department director-general Ikram Jamaluddin’s assertion that some local journalists and writers seemed to be echoing the writings of foreign academics about the orang asli, which contained “nothing but lies.”

His stance reflects a national penchant to blame foreigners and doesn’t allow space to do some soul-searching to seek some honest answers to the orang asli’s woes.

By generally slamming every foreign work as a distortion, we are denying ourselves access to research material that may allow us to look at the issue from another perspective.

If any foreign published work contains any distortion, the author should be named and the inaccuracies publicly corrected. This approach would expose the “lies” and allow the truth to prevail.

To claim that Malaysians were easily duped is in itself an insult to our intelligence. Ikram seems to think that we are incapable of discerning the truth about issues in our own backyard. He should name the local journalists who blindly echoed the foreigners in their articles without first checking with his department.

Ikram’s department should provide their version of the issue to the local media to correct any misconception. But he shouldn’t deny the media the right to seek other sources of information to ensure balanced reporting. The Orang Asli Affairs Department certainly does not have a monopoly over the truth.

Dr Mustafa K Anuar
Exco Member
1 November 1997