A HULU Perak Orang Asli tribe has lodged two police reports: one for trespassing on their native land by loggers and the other against the police for arresting three of their members on Saturday.

Sungai Papan village representative Anjang Aluej said both reports were lodged at Gerik police station, Perak, this evening.

Anjang said police’s actions against the community made it seem that the authorities were colluding with the loggers and denying the Temiar tribe their land rights.

“The loggers have repeatedly destroyed our blockades from July 11. On Saturday, they came with police to do so again and then they arrested three of us,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The loggers have also become more aggressive and have even attempted to erect their own blockades to prevent the Temiar from protesting against them.

“They are not successful at stopping us, because they left after they built their barriers.”

The villagers filed the second police report because they were dissatisfied with being treated like common criminals by the police.

“The police arrested us for just manning our blockades. We didn’t use any force,” said Jamal Endi, one of the three detained.

“They handcuffed us as though we were hardcore criminals. When they arrested us they did not even tell us why we were being detained.”

Besides Jamal, police also detained Zaiman Long and Muhamad Nazreen Bah Dadu.

However, the three men were released the same day after their statements were recorded.

The Temiar have been fighting a months-long battle against loggers they said have been operating on their native land.

According to the Perak Forestry Department, the loggers have a permit to log the forests and have the approval of the Pakatan Harapan state administration.

Minister of National Unity and Social Wellbeing P Waytha Moorthy, however, backed the Temiar’s right to claim the land, criticising Saturday’s arrests.

In a statement, Waytha said logging could not be carried out on land claimed by the Orang Asli.

The Perak government, Waytha said, had erred in issuing permits to the loggers because it contravened a high court decision. – July 22, 2019.