The Malaysian Insight

SCHOOL-BUS disruptions are not confined to Pahang but affect up to 40% of Orang Asli children in Peninsular Malaysia, most of them secondary school pupils.

These pupils depend on the government-funded service as their settlements are almost an hour’s drive from their schools, said lawmakers and groups working with the community.

As of September, there are 26,571 Orang Asli pupils attending primary schools, with another 13,155 enrolled in secondary schools.

Pick-up trucks, vans and sometimes 20-seater buses operated by private contractors, some of them Orang Asli-owned, are used to ferry pupils from their settlements deep in the rural interior, said the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC).

Pahang state lawmaker Chiong Yoke Kong said the majority of the affected children are secondary schools pupils.

“There are primary schools in each Orang Asli settlement, so primary school pupils live close to their schools,” said Chiong, who is Tanah Rata assemblyman.   

“But secondary schools are located further away from the settlements and these pupils require the transport services. This problem had been going on since June.”

COAC founder Colin Nicholas said in the peninsula, about 30% to 40% of Orang Asli pupils have been affected by the disruption of school bus services.  

Nicholas said the bigger chunk of Orang Asli children who either attend primary school or who stay in secondary school hostels have not been affected.

“It is the kids who are not staying in hostels but whose settlements are still far that have been affected,” Nicholas said, adding that there were other problems with these bus operators.

“In Pos Bala, Gua Musang (Kelantan), parents are refusing to send their children to school because a pick-up truck that was used met with an accident and some of the children fell off.

“In other places, contractors don’t provide enough vehicles so one bus makes two to three trips each morning. This means kids have to wake up as early as 4.30am to be on time for the bus.”

The Malaysian Insight reported yesterday bus operators ferrying Orang Asli children in Cameron Highlands have stopped their trips after not being paid for up to four months.

The operators are paid by Orang Asli Affairs Department (Jakoa), which is under the Prime Minister’s Department.  

Jakoa initially said the funds had been given but that it was waiting for the Finance Ministry to approve the payout.

In a Facebook posting later in the day, Jakoa said the bus operators would be paid what they are owed soon. – August 29, 2019.