KELANTAN Orang Asli whose ancestral lands have been turned into a durian plantation will file a counter-claim and an application to dismiss a suit brought against them by the plantation company.

Kelantan Orang Asli Villagers Network (JKOAK) chairman Mustafa Along said M7 Plantation Sdn Bhd’s suit against the indigenous rights group demanded compensation for the company’s losses from February to September this year, plus 10% interest.

“The company thinks we have incited the Pos Simpor residents in Gua Musang, causing them (the company) to suffer losses,” Mustafa told The Malaysian Insight.

Lawyer A. Saha Deva, who is representing the Orang Asli, will respond to the company’s suit at the Kota Baru High Court with a counter-claim and application to dismiss the suit

The lawyer is currently in Canada and will return for the trial, which has been fixed for October 18, Mustafa said.

The plantation, which grows musang king durian, has been on the receiving end of year-round blockades put up by the Orang Asli at Pos Simpor which has about 700 residents.

Things came to a head on August 28 when 400 personnel from the Kelantan Forestry Department, police, Land and Mines Office and the Civil Defence Force demolished the barriers at Pos Tohoi, Pos Bihai and Pos Pasik in Gua Musang.

However, on September 29, 300 Orang Asli erected new blockades.

Kelantan is the only state which does not reserve land for the Orang Asli and the state government has been blamed for allowing rampant logging in forested areas.

The PAS administration has accused the community of being instigated by non-governmental groups.

JKOAK has said that the Orang Asli community has been under pressure from loss of land and livelihood, which they derive from their ancestral lands, due to uncontrolled logging since 2006.

Logging in Kelantan intensified in 2006 when the state government introduced the Ladang Rakyat programme to promote agriculture projects with the private sector. – October 9, 2018.