PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak has become a prolific user of Facebook with multiple postings every day since he was ousted as prime minister, Lim Kit Siang said today.
Instead of posting on the 1MDB scandal, Najib should explain the lessons to be learnt from his failure to bring the Orang Asli into the national mainstream of development in the past eight years, Lim said.
“The Cameron Highlands by-election is a most appropriate time to review the KPIs and record of the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jakoa) which was formed sixty years ago for the empowerment, development and upliftment of the Orang Asli community in the country,” Lim said in a statement today.
“If Najib had not failed the Orang Asli Community, the Orang Asli community today would not be as poor, neglected and marginalised in all aspects of development.
“It is crying shame that after six decades of ‘empowerment, development and upliftment’ of the Orang Asli community in the country, only some 21% of the Jakoa staff are Orang Asli – and that an Orang Asli was only appointed this year to become Jakoa Director-General.”
Lim said if Jakoa had not been such a failure under Najib’s eight-year premiership, at least 70% of the Jakoa staff and all state Jakoa directors would have come from the Orang Asli community.
Are we going to have Jakoa for the next 20, 30 or 50 years, he asked?
“Cameron Highlands is the parliamentary constituency with the largest percentage of Orang Asli votes – some 20% – followed by Tapan and Gua Musang parliamentary constituencies,” the MP for Iskandar Puteri said.
“It will be foolish in the highest degree if Malaysians do not use the Cameron Highlands by-election to highlight the plight of the Orang Asli six decades after Merdeka.
“All Malaysian stakeholders must have a mindset change on the issue if the back of the problem of poverty, backwardness and marginalisation of the Orang Asli people is going to be resolved.”
