acknowledge that particular individual healthcare providers—be they doctors, nurses or paramedics—have displayed the same genuine concern and responsibility so admirably exhibited by the early volunteer doctors and nurses under the still-remembered supervision of Dr. Bolton in the 1960s and 1970s. However, these individuals are the exception and are more likely to be attached to medical centers of the Ministry of Health rather than the JHEOA medical service. It is not uncommon to hear JHEOA doctors attributing their “sacrifice” to serve the Orang Asli to their “pity” for the people. Also, it is no longer a priority in the Orang Asli medical service to have first-line Orang Asli health workers who can support and clarify technical matters for their hospitalised ‘relatives’. The introduction of a programme to train village-level Orang Asli Health Volunteers (Sukarelawan Kesihatan), although an excellent idea, has unfortunately yet to achieve its desired goals. Orang Asli health care has indeed taken a beating in the past two decades, not for lack of resources or knowledge of what needs to be done, but primarily because the Orang Asli have been treated as not-so-deserving beneficiaries of government largesse. 2.2.3 Education In general, there has been significant improvements made in the overall school attendance of the Orang Asli. When in 1994, there were 13,200 Orang Asli children enrolled in primary school, by 2003 the number had risen to 23,807, an increase of 45 per cent. Similarly, while there were 2,694 Orang Asli students in secondary school in 1994, by 2003 their number had increased to 6,675—an increase of 56.9 per cent. However, the actual number of years an Orang Asli remains in school leaves much to be desired. Studies done by the JHEOA and by independent consultants all reveal that the dropout rate among the Orang Asli 48 ORANG ASLI – RIGHTS, PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS