Getting ready for the next big one

The star
BY LOH FOON FONG

 

KUALA BETIS: At the Kuala Betis orang asli settlement RPS Block C in Kelantan, donated tents and bamboo huts line the sides of the narrow tarred road leading into the village.

Many flood victims are still staying inside these tents and huts since the devastating floods late last year.

Alang Jambu, a Temiar, whose home is now a makeshift bamboo hut, lives in Kampung Sentep with his wife and four children.

“A tiger appeared near our tent in the wee hours of the morning about two months ago,” he said.

“It was frightening but fortunately, we were not harmed,” Alang said, adding that since then, they would build a camp fire every night to keep wild animals away.

Despite the challenges they faced, the 44-year-old and his family had planted 1ha of tapioca for the villagers.

Recalling Dec 22 when the heavy rains began, Alang said his family moved to nearby Kampung Angkek three days later when Sungai Nenggiri in front of their house overflowed.

“I had to swim and walk to Kuala Betis town to buy groceries,” he said, adding that the hanging bridge in nearby Kampung Podek collapsed, too.

He wrapped a packet of sugar, tea and cooking oil in a sarong swung over his shoulder and swam back, but the sugar was soaked by that time.

“It was difficult. I had to dive into floodwaters to feel my way through and pull out some tapioca that could still be eaten,” he said.

Open to the elements: Children playing near their flood-damaged house in Kampung Sentep, Kuala Betis. Kelantan. (Bottom) Alang drying bamboo sheets for the walls of his new house in the village.

Alang said their ancestors had warned them of bah merah (big red flood) that might recur but the recent disaster seemed more severe as it was filled with mud, silt and rotting wood.

He said the orang asli had to drink water from the river that was polluted by logging activities, resulting in many of them suffering skin allergies and illnesses.

The authorities had provided an underground water pump in 2012 but it stopped working after three months. “And, despite reports made, it had not been repaired,” he claimed.

“Thirty years ago, the water from the river was clean and we could fish. We could easily catch the kelah fish without travelling far into the interiors,” he added.

Like many other orang asli villagers, Alang said they had written letters to the state government, police, Land Office and Department of Orang Asli Development about their problems.

While Alang was fortunate that he had received building materials for a new house on Feb 20 from a non-governmental organisation, many others still have not gotten anything yet.

Asked why his house was built within the flood-affected site, 15m away from his old house, he said the NGO did not have machinery to take building materials uphill.

For this reason, his family had built a bamboo hut in Kampung Angkek in the event of another disaster.

Sisters Lisa Rosman, 25, and Nana, 22, said they still did not have a house.

Lisa said they could not afford to buy the tools to build one.

“It is not comfortable living in the tent, and we want to live in a wooden house,” she said.

In Kampung Podek, a group of women and children sat in a makeshift bamboo hut and chatted. Across the road stood a tent where they would spend the night.

Aizam Rosli, 32, merely shrugged her shoulders and said “I don’t know” when asked when her house would be built.

“We don’t have the money,” said the mother of four who, like many orang asli there, ate only tapioca and vegetables for their daily meals.

Her cousin Katijah Asim, 21, who also slept in the same tent that could fit two families, said she hoped that the authorities would build their houses soon.

Flood-hit homes being repaired

the star
BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: Repair work on flood-damaged homes of orang asli has begun but the building of houses to replace those destroyed is still being sorted out.

Department of Orang Asli Development director-general Datuk Hasnan Hassan gave his assurance that repairs would be completed by the third week of April.

As for the rebuilding of the houses that were completely destroyed, he said he could not say when as this was being carried out by the Public Works Department (JKR).

“We handed the list of names of those affected to the National Security Council in January,” he said.

The Star reported on Monday that orang asli houses at the Temengor Dam in Perak remained submerged, three months after severe floods hit several states.

The flood victims were seen still living in tents and makeshift bamboo huts.

According to the department’s records, 40,000, or 20%, of the 205,000 orang asli in the peninsula were affected by the floods, which occurred between Dec 5 and Jan 5.

The total number of houses needing repairs was 267 – 137 in Pahang, 29 in Perak and 101 in Kelantan – at a cost of RM1.37mil, RM290,000 and RM1.01mil, respectively.

As for houses which needed to be rebuilt, the total was 172 – 57 in Pahang, 26 in Perak and 89 in Kelantan – costing RM1.248mil, RM2.736mil and RM4.272mil, respectively.

However, none of the orang asli houses has been rebuilt so far.

Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the Department of Orang Asli Development, the state governments and the National Security Council (MKN) were in the process of co-ordinating and verifying ownerships and land titles.

Hasnan said rebuilding work should not be delayed anymore as the people were suffering.

Datuk Zaki Ansore Mohd Yusof, head of the Post Flood Recovery Unit set up by the Cabinet, said construction of houses for owners who had their own land could be completed before the fasting month begins on June 18 but those who did not have land would have to wait longer.

As for the special land rights of the orang asli, he said the unit would liaise with the district officers and Works Ministry.

He said it would be less strict on insisting on land titles, as most orang asli did not have them.

As of yesterday, he said the unit had recorded a total of 2,200 houses to be built for flood victims nationwide, including for orang asli.

Zaki Ansore said 382 houses were already in the process of construction while 192 out of the 6,700 houses had been repaired.

Varsity planning orang asli homestay project for tourists

the star
BY LOH FOON FONG

Woven with love: Dr Rais checking out some of the Orang Asli products during his visit to the settlement in Gombak.

GOMBAK: The orang asli of Gombak will soon house tourists once the International Islamic University Malaysia kicks start a project to raise the community’s income through tourism.

University president Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim said the project would be initiated with the Orang Asli Development Department.

“University volunteers as well as graduates, will assist the orang asli to promote the visits and their handicrafts,” he said when asked about the plan after an interaction session on orang asli’s cultural heritage yesterday.

“For a start, they would identify five to 10 houses for the visits and would see if the stream in the village could be made an attraction,” Dr Rais said.

The former Information, Communication and Culture Minister, said the project organisers would also be promoting nose-flute artiste Raman Bah Tuin as well as the orang asli museum.

“This will enable tourists to understand the orang asli way of living and their cultural heritage,” he said.

The Gombak orang asli village head Ulang Sipang said the concept was a good one.

“We started it in Ulu Yam and some tourists have started to visit orang asli houses there,” he said, adding that an estimated 200 orang asli families are living in Gombak.

Orang asli homes lie in the lake

the star
BY LOH FOON FONG

Published: Monday April 6, 2015 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Monday April 6, 2015 MYT 8:35:32 AM

Orang asli homes lie in the lake

BY LOH FOON FONG

In need of help: Berlaun and his family members looking at the their submerged house (in the background) at the Temengor Dam at Kampung Tebang Lama, in Gerik, Perak.

GERIK: Many orang asli houses at the Temengor Dam in Perak remainsubmerged in water three months after severe floods hit several states.

The water level at the dam, known as the Temengor Lake, has not gone down to the level before the start of the floods on Dec 25.

Many villagers are still living in tents and makeshift bamboo huts as their houses have not been repaired or rebuilt.

At the Jehai village of Tebang Lama, for example, two houses are still under water while another is badly damaged.

Berlaun, 48, has not rebuilt his house, which had been flooded up to the roof, because he was overwhelmed by “so many things to do”.

“I have to replant rubber trees and tapioca first,” said the father of seven, who is now living with one of his children.

He erected his house three years ago. “I want to build a new home on higher ground, but I do not have the money to buy the tools.”

Berlaun’s house was 80m from the lake. The water level rose and flooded up to 100m inland and has now receded only by 20m.

Villager Azman Luntin, 39, who has been living in a makeshift bamboo hut for last three months with his family, said the water was going down too slowly.

His house, which was originally 100m away from the lake, was a wreck.

“Whenever I get a bit of money from produce collected from the jungle, I will buy nails,” he said.

He added that he would need more than 200 nails, a saw and a hammer to build a new home.

He said he had asked the De­­partment of Orang Asli Development for assistance to build a house and buy a generator, clothes, wok and other basic necessities destroyed in the floods. “But I have not heard from them.”

A villager whose house is still totally submerged, Pinjak Tengas, in his 50s, said he could not afford to rebuild his home.

He has difficulty getting enough jungle produce and fish to sell due to pollution from logging and plantation activities.

“I feel there is no hope. What is there to look forward to?” he said.

In Kampung Chuweh, 12 houses remain submerged and three others are badly damaged.

Village head Kawah, 50, said the community had asked Tenaga Nasional Bhd to release the water further but it had not receded much..

“I am worried that if it rains heavily again the water at the dam will hit us even though we are now on higher ground,” he said.

Mazlan Pandak, 29, said the water was about 7m higher than the original level, and 5m away from their homes, compared to 10m before the floods.

The father of five said: “We want the water to return to its original le­­vel because we need the land space to build more homes.

“The houses are already very close to one another and there is not much space left to build new homes.”

He said the Government had yet to build new houses for them as promised.

Meanwhile, the people of Kam­­pung Tebang Baru are still living in tents on a higher ground after five houses built for the hardcore poor were badly damaged by the floods.

An orang asli Network committee member Mohd Affendi Along said the names of people affected by the floods had been sent to the Department of Orang Asli Development but no rebuilding or repair work had been done in the Jehai villages.