received low amounts compared to those who had fewer trees that were inundated. Also, it is understood that the one who received the highest amount of compensation was not even listed in any of the census lists done by the consultants involved in the EIA or even in the JHEOA census; nor was he an Orang Asli! Needless to say, the list of recipients and the compensation they received is still being treated as a classified document. There have also been cases where the promised compensation, especially in kind, was not delivered in full, or not delivered at all. We already mentioned the case of the Jahai in RPS Banun who were resettled for the Temenggor dam in Upper Perak. In the case of Kampung Busut Baru and Kampung Air Hitam Baru, who were resettled to Bukit Cheeding, Banting to make way for the KLIA project, the ‘five oil palms for every one you have” promise never materialised. In fact, even the one-to-one replacement could only be done several years after the community had resettled due to a lack of funds, poor soils, and basically poor planning. And about 400 acres of the 1,000 promised are still not forthcoming. However, in apparent contradiction to the above, the Orang Asli living around Cyberjaya and Putrajaya now seem to be enjoying a special status when it comes to compensation for traditional territories acquired by the state. For not only are they being paid for the loss of their crops, fruit trees and dwellings, they are also paid compensation on the basis of the land they had to forego. While the authorities prefer to call this compensation ‘wang ehsan’ (compassion money), the amount paid roughly coincides with the market value of the land, and has been taken by Orang Asli to mean compensation for their land. Thus far, several Orang Asli have received compensation for their land at the rate of RM200,000.00 per acre. However, this is not practiced anywhere else in the Peninsula. All these point to a compensation procedure and valuation that is not consistent, transparent and applied fairly. This in turn causes distrust in the system as well as distrust among the Orang Asli themselves. ORANG ASLI – RIGHTS, PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS 31