Orang Asli Temiar Struggling To Protect Kampung Bering Environment

Bernama team comprising journalists Soon Li Wei, Wan Muhammad Aslah Wan Razali and Muhammad Mikhail Mohazar as well as cameraman Shahrizan Jefri Aziz, recently took part in an expedition to Kampung Kaloi and Kampung, Gua Musang, Kelantan, held in collaboration with the Persatuan Aktivis Sahabat Alam (KUASA).

GUA MUSANG (Bernama) -- Our journey to Kampung Bering here, took us about two hours of challenging and rugged terrains, yet exciting, heart-pounding off-road trails that took us on an adventure that we will never forget.

The off road trip was very bumpy....steep hill slopes and rocks of all sizes were on the route and it was amazing how the four-wheel drive (4WD) took the pounding of going up and over, and along the rocky paths.

Aside from the thrill experienced while driving through the trails, we witnessed breathtaking and picturesque views of the pristine Main Range or Banjaran Titiwangsa amid lush greenery in the surrounding areas.

This writer Soon Li Wei together with two other journalists Wan Muhammad Aslah Wan Razali  and Muhammad Mikhail Mohazar as well as cameraman Shahrizan Jefri Aziz and driver Ahmad Syukor Muhamad Zilmin, were on an expedition to the Orang Asli settlements in Kampung Bering and Kampung Kaloi together with the Persatuan Aktivis Sahabat Alam (KUASA) for five days from June 11 to June 16.

It was a heart-pumping adventure, with Syukor at the wheel. There were times when the vehicle skidded off the muddy and slippery road due to heavy rain overnight.  

 

Kampung Bering, an Orang Asli village under Pos Pasik sited 72 kilometres away from Kuala Balah, usually takes two to three hours by road depending on the weather and road conditions.

The Orang Asli settlement, with some 27 families comprising about 90 people from the Temiar ethnic tribe, is not easily accessible to the public as it is located in the remote interior, and is not easily found on the map whether on Google Earth application or Waze.

The off-road which has not been upgraded, is only accessible by 4WD, which can go through mud, over boulders and up steep hills with loose dirt, as well as helicopters, during emergencies.

Thanks to our experienced and skilful driver Syukor, we made it through the rough and challenging gruelling expedition and reached our destination, which offers stunning landscape of a limestone cave.

On arrival at Kampung Bering, a group of villagers comprising the Temiar community were already waiting from their homes to greet us with smiles.

“Selamat datang! (Welcome)” said a villager, Salim Tegiau, 45, as he shook hands with us.

The soothing sounds of river flowing from Sungai Kenong, which is the source of livelihood for the people of Kampung Bering, against the backdrop of scenic limestone hills, made our two-hour challenging and journey truly meaningful.

“It’s a beautiful place, and once you’re here, you just feel like not going back home,” said Hafizudin Nasarudin, our team leader, who is also KUASA chairman.

The stunning landscape of God’s creation surrounding the Orang Asli settlement, took our minds off the long and bumpy journey.

 

To better understand the lifestyle of the people in Kampung Bering, we spent three days and two nights, joining them in their daily activities such as farming, collecting forest produce as well river fishing, which are their sources of income.

This is our way of reaching out to the Orang Asli Temiar and learning about their struggles in preserving their traditional heritage, given that the people are largely influenced by the environment they live in.

 In fact, the forest is an inseparable part of life for the Orang Asli community. It is their home, a resource centre for food, medicine and their means to generate income, and a place where their socio-cultural values are deeply entrenched.

“From the smallest leaf to the large tree brunches and land structure, they are all our means to generate income.

“From young, we were taught by our parents to know the types of plants which are sources of food and medicine.  “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the forest is our main source of survival besides farming at our own premises, as the villagers could not leave their homes for food supply,” said Diana d/o Anjang, 36, a Kampung Bering resident.

 

According to Salim, during the Movement Control Order (MCO), the people’s daily lives had not changed as the men still braved the wilderness in search of forest resources, while the women took care of the children at home or spent time farming.

“During the period, there was no threat from wild animals as logging activities were not as rampant as today, and we were free to look for our sources of food, furniture or carry out our rituals.

“However, early this year, wild animals began to roam our settlement, destroying our crops and our premises or the edges of the river, especially from elephants, tigers and wild boars.

“In fact, some of the houses here were badly ravaged by elephants at night. My own house was also affected when these animals destroyed my kitchen,” he said.

He said elephants in the surrounding area would usually go on a rampage at least for two weeks. During the day, they would hide in their cave or roam in the bushes.

“Almost every night we could hear the sounds of footsteps of these forest elephants coming into our village to look for food and to our shock in the morning, our crops such as tapioca, beans and bananas trees were either damaged or eaten by these animals.

“We believe logging which started since September last year near our village forced these elephants to leave their natural habitat in the wild which had been destroyed by these illegal activities,” he said.

Oftimes, villagers such as Salim and Diana began to lose hope as their hard-earned produce, which were cultivated in their own premises, were all destroyed due to these wild animals which were affected by the large-scale forest logging.

 

Towards this end, a self-sufficient farm, Kebun Mandiri Orang Asli or better known as #kebunmandiriOA, a joint venture project between KUASA and Kampung Bering villagers, sponsored by Yayasan Hasanah and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) programme, was set up since March.

According to Hafizudin, this project was able to help the Orang Asli community tide over their food crisis during the pandemic and taught them to be resilient by regaining their food resources through joint farming.

“Food supply from forest resources are also depleting due to indiscriminate forest logging near their village.

“Instead of giving them dry food, it’s best that we empower them by maximising their existing farms through training and guidance.

"While they already own farms, which are inherited from their ancestors for crop cultivation, we still assist them with improved crop varieties aided by advanced technology without the use of chemical fertiliser which can damage the biodiversity in the surrounding areas,” he said.

 

Hafizudin said among the criteria to carry out the farming project are, the village is located in the remote interior, food supply which has been affected by the pandemic, disturbance from wild animals as well as problems of access from the village to town.

“We usually hold discussions with local villagers for a consensus before studying the land structure to identify suitable crops for cultivation at their farm.

“Under the project, we apply new technologies to ensure their farms are safe from wild animal threats, in addition to introducing organic farming practices without the use of chemical fertiliser.

“As an example, in Kampung Bering, we install LED lamps on the wall of fences and plant lemongrass around their farm to prevent elephants from roaming at night,” he said, adding that, wastes of bats will be used as fertilisers, which are taken from the nearby cave.

 

We also took the opportunity to visit the #kebunmandiriOA Kampung Bering sited on a one-acre land not far away from the village on our second day.

With a gate security system and the installation of a piping system from hulu Sungai Kenong, the farm hosts various crops such as bitter gourd, cucumber, long beans, maize and sawi (green vegetables).

In fact, during our visit to the farm, the maize crop produced by 47 residents of the village since three months ago, was bearing fruit and ready for harvesting.

“We are so grateful that for the first time, we can enjoy the fruits of our labour after three months of cultivation, from germinating maize seeds till now,” said Suli d/o Anjang, 19, said, as she picked the fruits from her trees.

 

Suli said the crop harvested not only served as food sources for the Kampung Bering people, but were also taken to town to be sold as their side income.

“We receive assistance from KUASA in getting our products out for sale to the public and this has helped ease our burden while driving us to continue farming, ” she added.

While the assistance received through the #kebunmandiriOA, a gotong-royong programme, was a boost to the people, they were still worried about the threats of wild animals from the forest as a result of the large scale logging taking place.

“Although our Kebun Mandiri is protected by the gate security system, the elephants are our major threat due to logging,” said Salim.

“We hope that no more unsustainable development and large scale forest logging without permit take place as we don’t want to be disturbed by wild animals at night. We want to sleep in peace,” he added.

 

Translated by Salbiah Said

BERNAMA