THE trauma for the Orang Asli families who lost their children three years ago has destroyed their trust in the education system.

The six families whose children had run away from the school hostel and got lost in the surrounding jungles do not want to send their other children back to the school.

Even their fellow villagers in Kg Penad and Kg Gawin in the remote part of Gua Musang, Kelantan, initially declined to send their children back to SK Pos Tohoi, where seven students between the ages of 7 and 11 went missing on August 23, 2015.

The families’ trust in the authorities were eroded by the events surrounding the children’s disappearance, and the subsequent clumsy search operations.

Ayel Ajip, 50, said they only knew about the disappearance two days later, and only from his fellow villagers, not the school itself.

The police only arrived at the school, which lies in the middle of the Balah forest reserve, four days after the incident, he added.

“Before the incident, we were willing to send our seven-year-olds to live in the school’s hostels,” Ayel told the media in Kuala Lumpur today.

“I know other parents don’t dare do this, only Orang Asli parents will send away their children when they are seven,” Ayel, whose 9-year-old daughter Ika was among those who disappeared.

“We packed them off to school so as to give them a better future. But after this incident, we fear sending any more of our children to the school,” said Ayel.

Children from surrounding Temiar villages are sent to SK Pos Tohoi where most will choose to stay in the hostels because of the great distance between the schools and their villages.

The seven children had run off into the surrounding jungles after being scolded by a teacher.

Only two were found alive 46 days later.

Besides Ika, they were Sasa Sobri, who was eight at the time, Juvina David, 7, Linda Rosli, 8, siblings Haikal, 10 and Norieen Yaakob, 11, and Miksundiar Aluj, 11.

Only Norieen and Miksundiar were found alive.

Lack of understanding

National school teachers, said another parent, 32-year-old Rosli Alik, does not understand that very young Orang Asli children are more timid and afraid of non-Temiar adults compared to children of other communities.

“Even when I was young, the first time I went to school, the teacher yelled at me because I could not understand Bahasa Malaysia. It’s because I grew up speaking the Temiar language,” said Rosli.

“Our children have only grown up in the village and they are not exposed to the outside world and strangers,” he said.

After the incident, Ayel said neither the teachers, hostel wardens or education department officers visited the parents to rebuild rapport between the community and the school.

He said the same staff who were around at the time of the incident are still working at the school, adding that other families had only started sending their own children back to the school a year ago.

Rosli said the reluctance to send their children back to the school stems mostly from their belief that children under the ages of 12 were unable to fend for themselves.

“Which community sends their seven-year-olds to boarding schools? Children this young still need their parents to guide them in how to behave.”

He said in the Pos Tohoi hostel, Orang Asli children are not even taught how to wash their own clothes.

“There are no adults to supervise them and tell them to take regular baths.”

This is why the community wants the government to set up primary schools for seven to 11 years-old closer to Orang Asli villages, so that the children can still stay with their parents.

“This is something which Suhakam (Malaysian Human Rights Commission) had once recommended. And we hope that the new Pakatan Harapan government can show more understanding towards the Orang Asli’s plight,” said Siti Kassim, a lawyer for the families. – August 24, 2018.