Orang Asli Di Kawasan Lindungan: Kedudukannya Dari Segi Perundangan Di Malaysia

In Malaysia, most of the tropical rainforest has been gazetted as a protected area. This protected areas known as forest reserves, widlife protection reserves, national parks and state parks are rich in various species of flora and fauna. Orang Asli who inhabit part of the protected areas are highly dependent on the sustainability of the forest resources. This article analyses the position of Orang Asli in the protected area provided under the legislation as well as the emerging issues involving Orang Asli in the area. The research methodology used is doctrinal legal research and text analysis by examining relevant legislation and previous studies on the position and rights of Orang Asli in protected areas.It was found that there are actually legislation enacted which derived the rights for them to consume and use the nature resources in the protected areas because of the high dependability of the communities onto these resources. However, most of the legislation enacted does not explicitly recognise the position of the Orang Asli communities within the protected area. The provision also limits and reduces their rights without suggesting any other alternative in order to help these communities. There is also possibility in which the legislation were enacted without taking into account the views of these communities as the major stakeholder at the protected areas. Weaknesses in recognizing the position and rights of Orang Asli communities in protected areas in fact could contribute to the failure of biodiversity conservation and preservation systems. This is because the process of preservation and conservation of the nature must inevitably involved the Orang Asli community.