The headman of the village is called, Batin. I am not sure why a headman of OA is known as a Batin rather than Penghulu. Perhaps a Batin is associated to mystical values of the OA beliefs. The Batin must have a spiritual connection with his people.
This settlement consists of 200 people. I do not know how many houses
there since the headman did not show the statistic nor emphasising on
numbers. The majority of folks there are animists but there are also
some Muslims and Christians among them. They live together in a compound
or scattered in the settlement. The people there are quite open to new
ideas and lifestyle. It is not a primitive or savage village that most
rednecks would ever think. It does not look like anything in the middle
of Amazon forest. The factor to their open-mindedness perhaps is rooted
to their progressive headman.
The headman of the OA village is not hereditary. It means that their
names would be suggested or picked by someone and they will be elected
to the position. Mr Umpun mentioned that his term would end this year
because he accepted nongovernmental organisations' visits. Those
nongovernmental organisations might be critical to the ruling party in
the Government. So, he is not favoured by the government agency related
to the OA affairs anymore.
Youths in the village are also active in sports. There are a soccer
field and an assembly hall built by private companies and corporate
sectors. The houses down the hill slope were built by the government
through its agency, the Department of Orang Asli Development, Ministry
of Rural and Regional Development.
Among the issues related to OA land rights briefed to me by Mazni were:
- the gazette for OA land rights cancelled by the state government;
- the state government grants the licence to loggers for timber; and
- Loggers destroying the ecosystem-sustaining the traditional life of OA.
The electricity in the village comes from a hydro project. It is a small
generator powered by water flowing from the mountain there. The project
was supported by the Selangor state government and funded by NGOs.
Mazni informed me that the project was also supported by Elizabeth Wong
Keat Ping, the Selangor State Executive Councillor. The people there
would have to use their electricity wisely or they would run out of the
power and will have to wait for the generator to recover.
Mazni also stated that the NGOs had also applied for Federal Government
assistance to bring electricity into the village but the Federal agency,
the Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) claimed that it is too far to reach
the village. It means that it would be a hassle for them to bring things
to build a proper generator in the village.
