I had a lump
in my throat as I took the first bite to one of these mangosteens and recalled the
story told by the fruit seller who sold them.
These mangosteens
were bought from a seasonal fruit stall in Section 17 in Petaling Jaya
yesterday evening.
The flesh was fresh,
juicy and has an excellent sweet-sour flavour which I used to remember as a
child. It seemed to taste better than the ones that came in from Indonesia.
It has been
ages since I see mangosteens with flesh of such superior quality unless one
hunts for them in a higher-end supermarket at a premium.
The fruit
seller said that the fruits were harvested by the Orang Asli. The rainy season
has made it difficult for them to harvest them, resulting in some of the Orang
Asli who climbed the trees to harvest them fell from the trees and injured
themselves or even died!
No further information were derived from the fruit seller as I did not understand Cantonese.
Much heartfelt appreciation for the Orang Asli for putting such excellent food
on our tables but do they need to die for our sake? More needs to be done to protect
them and their welfare.
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