Commentary by Mustafa K. Anuar

IT is noteworthy that newly minted Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek has made it her priority to improve poorly conditioned schools in the interior of Sabah and Sarawak as well as the peninsula so as to ensure children in these areas have equal access to education.

But her concerns – no less important – should go beyond ensuring unhindered access to education for children in the interior because, as yesterday’s report in The Malaysian Insight has shown, Orang Asli schoolchildren faced other challenges as well.

Poor quality of education, national curriculum and questionable subject content have long been a cause for concern for parents, educationists and social activists as these factors have an adverse impact on schoolchildren, including those among the Orang Asli.

Contrary to the inclusive approach of the Anwar Ibrahim administration, the Orang Asli communities and their children reportedly have not been accorded by certain school management and teachers the respect and acceptance that they duly deserve as members of the wider society.

As a result, there has been an alarming rate of school dropouts among the Orang Asli children over the years, primarily because of bullying as well as their lack of trust in the school system.

Orang Asli schoolchildren became victims of bullying generally driven by racism and a negative attitude harboured by children of the majority community (the Malays) who seemed to have looked down on the Orang Asli as an uncivilised lot.

It is a worldview that is informed by long-held prejudice and myths about the Orang Asli as a people who are uncultured and against the mainstream concept of development.

Similarly, Orang Asli parents have been treated by certain school management and teachers as second-class citizens despite their official indigenous status.  

The Orang Asli community of Peninsular Malaysia consists of three main ethnic groups – Senoi (55.09%), Proto-Malay (41.97%) and Negrito (2.94%).

Matters worsened when there were attempts by certain teachers to convert Orang Asli schoolchildren into Islam, which is an infringement of their right to freedom of religion. Apart from being Muslims, some of them are animists as well as Christians.

The Orang Asli’s trust in these schools has waned as a result.

In response to the government’s supposed inclusive outlook, certain educationists have urged the education authorities to revamp particularly history books so that ethnic minorities are properly and adequately portrayed in school textbooks that are hitherto claimed to be Malay-centric.

For instance, the valuable contributions of the non-Malays towards nation-building over the years deserve to be made known to and appreciated by schoolchildren as well as their parents.

It is in this context that negative assumptions and biases towards the Orang Asli can be corrected in the long run.

School textbooks need to highlight the Orang Asli as a community that has its own cultural traditions, lifestyle and beliefs just like any other communities that have their rightful places in our society.

Their deep appreciation of the natural world as well as their wide knowledge of, say, medicinal value of certain plants in the forest, should be acknowledged and imparted via the school textbooks.

Such a positive depiction would go a long way towards instilling among people outside of the Orang Asli communities respect and appreciation for the indigenous group.

If the lifestyle and cultures of people in the concrete jungle are exposed through textbooks, then it is only proper and fair that knowledge about the pristine jungle and their inhabitants be revealed as well.

Inclusiveness would necessitate mutual understanding, respect and harmonious relations between the diverse communities that exist in our society.  

Let the schoolchildren across the country start their schooling life on the right foot. – January 4, 2023.