Kota Damansara

Source: "The Star":http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/4/21/central/3728763&sec=central

THE orang asli community in Desa Temuan, located smack in the bustling Damansara Perdana, is facing an identity crisis as they find it difficult to blend in with the surrounding community, said Kota Damansara assemblyman Dr Nasir Hashim.

Nasir, who has been a champion of orang asli’s rights, said the community was further trapped in the situation because parties who thought that they were helping them had not really looked at things through their eyes.

According to him, the Selangor government’s move to set up a land task force to prevent encroachment of land now occupied by the orang asli was a good one.
Hiding the truth: The bungalows in Desa Temuan belies the fact that the inhabitants, Temuan orang asli relocated from the Bukit Lanjan orang asli reserve land, have difficulty coping with modernisation.

The task force involving three lawyers and four assemblymen has held several meetings to look at lands that should have been gazetted as orang asli reserve but are still defenceless to developers.

In the meantime, orang asli at Desa Temuan will be called for meetings so that the authorities can help them by knowing exactly what they want at different stages.

“They blended beautifully into the jungle,” said Nasir who had lived with orang asli in Sarawak. “Outsiders took away their reference point (habitat) on the pretext of helping them assimilate into modernisation but in fact were eyeing the land and timber.

“That puts them in a state of confusion where they become vulnerable to all kinds of nonsense, such as drugs and drinking,” he said.

Nasir also cautioned the danger of dependency, therefore orang asli would be encouraged and given the opportunity to be involved in the development of their own community through the meetings.

He said he could not help but question the efficiency of the Orang Asli Affairs Department, asking: “How have they spent the money? Why are orang asli still facing so many problems?”

The settlement of some 500 orang asli, who were the original inhabitants of Petaling Jaya’s northern region, is nestled within the swathes of luxury condominiums and shopping complexes in Damansara Perdana.

They were relocated from the Orang Asli Reserve Land at Bukit Lanjan in 2002 to Desa Temuan, a 18ha development project comprising 147 bungalows and 130 apartments, under a resettlement package offered by developer MK Land.

The MK Land development has resulted in a massive transformation of the area’s landscape with the mushrooming of urban residential units and modern commercial blocks.