However, officialdom is not that sympathetic to small-scale or subsistence farmers. Last month, Department of Environment (DOE) director-general Rosnani Ibrahim “advised” farmers not to use fire to get rid of unwanted biomass. She also said that there is no reason why the farmers should continue to use fires as there are “various modern techniques” for tilling their fields. The national no-burn directive apparently also applies to the handful of Orang Asli who still practise rotational agriculture. Datuk Saleh Sarif, director-general of the Department of Orang Asli Affairs, agrees with the ban as he is not convinced that fire is necessary for these groups of Orang Asli. “I don’t believe they are subject to any hardship on account of not being allowed to use fire for land-clearing. If they pile the biomass together, it will be a source of nutrients when it rots. “Anyway, how much nutrient can you get from the ashes? In my observation, all farmers will have to use chemical fertilisers at one point or another.” However, Colin Nicholas, co-ordinator for the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, believes Saleh is not well-acquainted with the Orang Asli’s tried-and-tested techniques and their implications for the environment. “Chemical fertiliser is needed only for land that is cultivated repeatedly like rice fields, but not in rotational agriculture, which has been practised without any problem for hundreds of years. “Anyway, the Orang Asli practise organic farming, which is in accordance with the general trend of moving away from the use of chemical fertilisers. “Furthermore, the Orang Asli do not have access to bulldozers and the like that are needed to practise zero-burning agriculture.” Nicholas argues that if the Orang Asli are denied the right to burn, 70 ORANG ASLI – RIGHTS, PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS