the JHEOA is not a “public servant” but a “government servant”. And much less so a servant of the Orang Asli. At the SUHAKAM workshop on Orang Asli Rights held in December 2002, the majority of the participants expressed dissatisfaction with the JHEOA. Some strongly believed that the JHEOA was the main culprit for their deplorable situation today, especially when it came to having their lands being taken away. They also said that the JHEOA was also playing an important role in urging the Orang Asli to convert to Islam by equating development with conversion. Most of the Orang Asli also do not have any knowledge about the funds allocated to the local government agencies for the Orang Asli. The others know that there are certain allocations but they are in the dark of the specifics. Most of the Orang Asli questioned were also of the opinion that for any kind of relations or dealings between the Orang Asli and the local government agencies, the Orang Asli must do this via the JHEOA. This has been the practice for a long time and those interviewed seem to believe that system works this way. In some instances, this has caused problems for the Orang Asli, especially when JHEOA officers are slow to act on their requests or use administrative foot-dragging to sabotage Orang Asli interests in favour of the government or private developer. The case of not gazetting Orang Asli lands that have been approved for gazetting, even if such approvals were given more than three decades ago, is a case in point. 2.3.4 The Response by the JHEOA At the 2002 Suhakam workshop were representatives from various branches of government, including those from the federal and state government agencies. The Director-General of JHEOA also attended the workshop, and made interventions frequently. Basically, the Director-General denied the accuracy of most of the complaints and was very defensive of the activities of the JHEOA. His responses, and some of the other civil servants, clearly 68 ORANG ASLI – RIGHTS, PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS