Orang Asli insulted by 'wandering animals' remark

Pahang's Orang Asli community has taken offence to a government officer’s remark that likens them to 'wandering animals'.

A Krau national park officer had allegedly written in aFacebook posting after making this claim, that "... wherever there is a forest, that’s their land."

The officer was defending a government move to put up a wire fence along Sungai Krau to safeguard wildlife in the national park.

Malaysiakini is withholding the name of the officer concerned pending the latter's response.

However, the Orang Asli have claimed that this has affected their sources of livelihood.

"I am saddened by the statement that comes from a ranking government officer, saying we Orang Asli are not humans," Tok Batin Mohd Kuang (left), 68, is quoted as saying in a statement from  the Jaringan Orang Asli Pahang (JOAP) .

"I want to ask Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak: does he feel the same way?"

Regak, an octogenarian from Kampung Pian, also protested the statement, saying that the community was in the area long before the Wildlife Department arrived.
 
"As far as I know, we named the hills and mountains long ago," Regak (right) said.

According to their oral history, seven Jahut villages have existed in the Sungai Krau area for a long time. 

The land was gazetted in 1927 by the British colonial government and renamed Megas Tua, before being turned into a forest reserve.

JOAP activist Shafie Dris criticised the government's move to fence up part of Krau, the country’s biggest wildlife reserve.

"The area has been our customary native land for years (as well as a) hunting ground... it carries our history and spirit," Shafie said.
 
The Human Rights Commission had earlier investigated claims exerted by native communities to customary land around the country.

Its comprehensive report produced after nearly two years of study was submitted to the Prime Minister's Department in August.

Among the 18 recommendations is a call to establish an Indigenous Land Tribunal. Another is to reconcile wrongdoings by returning land that has been taken away or by paying proper compensation.