200 Orang Asli villagers file suit over trespass of ancestral land

 

Lawyers N Nagarajan (left) and Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal (right) with plaintiff Ahak Uda holding a copy of the statement of claim.

KUALA LUMPUR: Three individuals today filed a class-action suit on behalf of 200 families in two Orang Asli settlements in the Gua Musang district against the Kelantan state authorities for issuing licences to private and government-linked companies.

Ahak Uda, Aziz Angah and Anjang Uda, also want a declaration that the Orang Asli of Kampung Kelaik and Kampung Cabil were the rightful holders of native customary rights and owners of the ancestral lands in the surrounding areas.

In the statement of claim filed at the High Court in Kota Bharu, they also want a declaration that the issuance of licences to encroaching parties is contrary to the law, illegal and void.

The three want a declaration that the PAS-led government and the state director of the land and forestry department have breached their fiduciary duties as well as their responsibility and duty under the Federal Constitution.

“They want a declaration that the state government had acted contrary to the legitimate expectation of the Orang Asli of Kampung Kelaik and Kampung Cabil,” a court document sighted by FMT revealed.

They have also asked for damages for all the destruction and encroachment upon the Orang Asli’s ancestral lands ranging from 28ha to 40ha.

Apart from 11 private and state-linked enterprises, the plaintiffs had included the Department of Orang Asli Development as defendants.

Lawyer Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal said the court documents would be served on the defendants once the sealed copy was extracted from the court registry.

In January 2019, the then Pakatan Harapan federal government also filed a similar suit against the state government and five private companies.

The state government and its agencies had granted logging licences to private companies, allowing them to enter the native land of the Temiar Orang Asli in Pos Simpor, near Gua Musang.

Vast areas of forest were reportedly cleared to make way for durian and rubber tree plantations, resulting in widespread erosion, pollution and irreparable damage to the ecology and landscape of Pos Simpor.

The state’s appeal to strike out the suit is at the Court of Appeal. - FMT