There is an urgent need to understand the mindset of the Orang Asli in moving forward…
Some young people have come to join the farm as contract workers. However, many are not catching the vision of owning their own farm. We made these observations:
- The young men appear more content with finding quick money to spend. One of them prefers to send his young wife to work in his place whilst he remains non-committal in earning a living for the family.
- They look lost and appear to have lost hope in finding a real solution to their marginalisation. They don’t seem to have the determination and resolve to push forward.
We ask these questions:
- Is it because they are not able to see that the farm can accelerate their path of sustainable livelihoods?
- Is it because they find the path requiring time, daily work disciplines, determination and learning curve a difficult one to journey?
- Is it because their easy-going lifestyle and indulgent parents do not motivate them to be enterprising and independent?
Young Orang Asli men are at great risk of becoming a lost generation. They cannot survive with a diminishing forest, but neither can they move forward with education for many of them do not do well in school. And they have little history of prolonged and sustained daily work. They are stuck. In this state of frustration, they will be turning to cheap alcohol and become more lost.
These are serious problems requires further understanding.
