Development is threatening to encroach into the ancestral land of four Orang Asli kampungs in Cameron Highlands, reports The Sunday Star.
Published: 26 October 2014
The first time the villagers of Kampung Pawong, Kampung Chiduk, Kampung Palas and Kampung Sungai Penuh found out about the impending project was in mid-August with the erecting of a signboard announcing it.
Subsequently, in the middle of this month, the villagers saw workmen arrive to pave roads for lorries and heavy equipment.
Not only is the 121ha of land the rice bowl of 45 Orang Asli families, “around 30 of our ancestors are buried there,” a village representative told the paper.
The non-gazetting of Orang Asli land is a continuing problematic issue for the community.
The Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has produced a document that details incursions into indigenous lands and sets out steps for the government to prevent them from occurring. The report has not been tabled in Parliament despite calls for the Cabinet to do so.
Elsewhere in the country, 188 Orang Asli Seletar in the Iskandar Developmen Region in Johor are engaged in a suit against a couple of developers, seeking damages for trespass and a permanent injunction relating to their customary land and burial grounds. – October 26, 2014.