CARRYING a head of grey, with lines hardened by sun and toil, Singgol Oleh looks older than his 44 years.

Although he is one of the few in Kg Tual, Pos Sinderut, who finished his SPM, there’s simply no work here for him.

“I just grow rubber and bananas and gather or hunt what I can from the forest,” said the father of four.

Although Felda Sg Boyan is just 34km away from his village, most Semai here don’t get to work there.

“They prefer Indonesian workers,” he said simply with a shrug.

There are around 18 kampung scattered in the hills of Sinderut. Although the previous government built a 35km road from Jalan Tersang-Sg Koyan at RM40 million a few years back, the winding road is now dilapidated and has no lights at night.

Singgol’s village is the fourth kampung from the main road, some 22km into the jungle. Apart from solar panels donated by a multinational company a few years back, there is no electricity there either.

There is a school on top of the mountain but the distance from Kg Tual to the school is almost 10km. Singgol’s eldest daughter, who is now 19, is studying at a government technical college in Kuala Lumpur while his other two daughters have dropped out.

Singgol said the government provides transport to the school, but without electricity, the children are unable to hit their books after the sun sets and soon lose interest after lagging too far behind in their studies.

‘Bought’ at every election

The Semais, Singgol surmised, remain a forgotten people in modern Malaysia and he blames their disconnect from the rest of the country on the failure of Barisan Nasional to pay attention to their needs.

He was thrown into the limelight last year when he became one of the 12 Orang Asli witnesses who testified in the Cameron Highlands election petition.

Along with others, Singgol told the court how he was given RM50 on the eve of polling to vote for BN candidate C. Sivarraajh.

Other witnesses told how money was given to them by the MIC candidate and current Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail to secure the Semai vote.

“This had never happened before. When I went to vote, I was given RM50 by the tok batin (village chief).

“I felt insulted. It’s as if the value of our community is only worth RM50,” said Singgol, who earns around RM200 a month from selling the rubber and bananas harvested from his land.

“It’s unacceptable for them to come and give RM50 to us for our vote and then disappear for the next five years,” he said.

Even with BN fielding retired Semai policeman Ramli Mohd Noor for the coming polls, Singgol said he will not give BN any more chance.

“For me, it’s very clear. I cannot vote for them any more.

“I haven’t believed in BN for 10 years now. Maybe, there will be others who are moved because they have a Semai candidate but I know I can’t vote for a sinking ship,” he said with a grin.

Pos Sinderut is one of nine voting stations from 29 with a Semai majority. In the last elections, BN took 709 (64.5%) out of the 1,095 votes here while PH and PAS collected 268 (24.4%) and 35 votes respectively.

The Cameron Highlands federal seat has around 6,000 Semai voters (20.9%) out of the 32,008. – January 17, 2019.