van monthly. With this assurance, 18 children began school within a month. Clearly it was not a case of the ‘poor attitude’ of the parents towards education. Similarly, in the Temuan community of Ulu Batu, Selangor, none in the community had ever been to school because of the costs involved, even though the school was only about 5km from the village. However, because of publicity in the press, the JHEOA again agreed to arrange for transport and as a result several children, of varying ages, began to go school. And now that a private company has adopted the village, much of the children school needs are taken care of, thus ensuring that the children remain in school. Clearly, the single-most important factor that is keeping many Orang Asli children from school is simply—poverty. Non-Delivery of Educational Assistance The educational assistance for the Orang Asli, through the JHEOA, showed a 24.5 percent increase from RM8,995,000.00 in 2001 to RM11,206,640.00. This increase closely approximates the increase in Orang Asli enrolment in both primary and secondary enrolment for the corresponding years. This would mean that in real terms there had been no increase in the allocation for Orang Asli educational assistance. However, it is noted that the one single item that goes directly to help reduce the financial strain on Orang Asli parents—school uniforms­—had its budget slashed by 43.4 per cent. And this while school enrolment continued to increase and Orang Asli poverty remaining high at 76.9 per cent. In fact, many Orang Asli parents have been complaining that subsidies for their children had been withdrawn since 2000.5 This was not an across the board withdrawal. In some districts, the Orang Asli parents were told that the financial allocations had not arrived yet eventhough the school year had well started. In other districts, it was back to normal. Yet for many Orang ORANG ASLI – RIGHTS, PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS 53