KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Malaysia’s first Orang Asli lawmaker today urged the government not to use the agency for aboriginal affairs as a dumping ground for underperforming civil servants.

Cameron Highlands MP Ramli Mohd Nor said the Orang Asli Development Department (JAKOA) needs to have its organisational structure reviewed and injected with increased funding to aid the community.

"JAKOA must be strengthened and improved from its organisational structure perspective, increased funding and increase the value of the workers who must be of great integrity, dedicated and transparent in order to achieve its main objectives for the progress and wellbeing of the Orang Asli.

"JAKOA should also not be made a port and cold storage for civil servants who are problamatic, so that they won’t fail the noble objectives which form the bedrock of JAKOA’s formation, because of the attitude of the said individuals,” Ramli said in the Dewan Rakyat.

The Barisan Nasional lawmaker was sworn in on March 12. Ramli, a political greenhorn, is from the Semai tribe.