Five accused of buying Semai land by trickery

(From left) B Suresh, PSM worker Yoga Tasan Ramis and Ismail Garak.

CAMERON HIGHLANDS: An Orang Asli from the Semai tribe has accused five teachers from a school near his village of duping members of his community into selling 2.4ha of protected land in Kampung Tiga Pos Terisu here.

The allegation by Ismail Garak, a security guard, was corroborated by Cameron Highlands PSM secretary B Suresh.

Suresh told FMT the teachers had since been transferred to another school because of disciplinary problems.

He said they made the Tok Batin (headman) of the village, Yusof Din, sign a contract for the sale of the land.

“You see, when you go to the Orang Asli with documents, it’s very easy to scare them into signing anything,” he alleged.

Yusof, whose sister is married to Ismail, died two years ago.

According to Suresh, the teachers have set up farms on parts of the land and rented out one part to a Cameron Highlands resident.

After Yusof died, Ismail and his wife apparently lodged a report with the police in an attempt to nullify the contract.

Ismail said he, with PSM’s help, had also attempted to contact the tenant of the rented part of the land, but to no avail.

“The police have not helped us and the man renting the land won’t see us,” he said. “When we go to his house, he runs away.”

Suresh said Cameron Highlands residents often assumed that the Orang Asli were interested only in money.

“It has become like a custom for them to throw money at the Orang Asli so they’ll go away,” he said.

More recently, Semai tribesmen have accused a police officer investigating the case of trying to buy the land for himself from the teachers.

The officer has denied the allegation -FMT