Cops take Romanian journalist at Orang Asli blockade to station 'for documentation'

PETALING JAYA: A Romanian photojournalist covering an Orang Asli blockade in Gerik, Perak, was “taken away” from the site by the police on Thursday (Aug 1).

Alexandra Radu, who is a freelance photojournalist, has been released from Gerik police station.

On assignment for The Diplomat, she said she was at the station for about two hours before being released.

“When they brought me to the police station, they told me it was just for documentation, ” said Radu, who was covering the blockade near a logging site in Kampung Sungai Papan put up in a dispute with loggers.

She was told that she was taken away because she was in a forest reserve area without a permit.

“I was just at the blockade, and I was photographing the blockade when they came, so I kept on taking photos, and I was on the other side of the gate, and apparently it is a forest reserve, ” she said.

According to Radu, she was treated well and the police were polite with her.

Gerik OCPD Superintendent Ismail Che Isa said they did not arrest Radu and were merely taking her back to the district police station for documentation purposes.

He said the police saw her covering the dismantling of the blockade by the logging company between 10am and 11am.

The Orang Asli there claim that the land, where logging activities are being held, was their ancestral land.

In a statement, Pelindung Khazanah Alam Malaysia (Peka) president Puan Seri Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil said the continuous acts of the state authorities and loggers completely disregarded the rights of the Orang Asli.

She said it was an intolerable action.

“As such, we, Peka, call upon the Federal Government and the minister in charge to immediately intervene in this matter to protect and safeguard the Orang Asli from any form of abuse, ” she said.

Shariffa called for immediate intervention by the Federal Government to maintain the status quo at Kampung Sg Papan and Kampung Cunex pending the determination of the Orang Asli's land rights by the courts.

“A morratorium on the logging here must be immediately be put in place to halt any irreparable damage or loss in these areas that are detrimental to the Orang Asli way of life, ” she said.- Star