agencies like Felcra and Risda would not entertain Orang Asli applications for subsidies and other development aid unless the land was in the Orang Asli smallholders’ name. Similarly, for Tenaga Nasional Berhad in their provision of electricity to Orang Asli areas. Cause of Development Shortfall In cases where, despite sufficient funds have been allocated or arranged for the development of Orang Asli areas, and yet these projects fail, the causes can be attributed to misuse or abuse of the funding allocation, poor planning, incompetence of the development provider, and lack of accountability on the part of the officers concerned. For instance, at the function of a private developer in the former Orang Asli settlement of Bukit Lanjan, where the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was officiating the opening of the RM200,000.00 year-long training programme for 17 Orang Asli youths to be construction workers, the JHEOA was asked to bus in around 600 Orang Asli headmen from all over the Peninsula. The total cost to the JHEOA for doing so was around RM320,000.00. Again, this was a project of a private company. The development target of the Orang Asli have also suffered as a result of the privatisation-of-development programme of the JHEOA (where corporations undertake to develop Orang Asli areas in exchange for rights to the resources found on their areas, especially timber). The first of such privatised Orang Asli regroupment plans was launched in May 1997, with the signing of an agreement between the Johor State Government and Taktik Sejati Sdn. Bhd. Some 600 Orang Asli from 149 families in Kampungs Lenek, Selai, Kemidak, Kudong and Tamok in Segamat district in Johor were to receive assistance in terms of “economic, social, personal, mental and outlook (sic) development”. A total of 748 hectares of the land was to be developed for agricultural, housing, infrastructure and 40 ORANG ASLI – RIGHTS, PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS