DESPITE repeated arrests and razing of their blockades, the Temiar Orang Asli in Gerik, Perak, will not give up the fight for their ancestral land.

“You can arrest as many of us as you like and destroy all our blockades, we will build more,” Anjang Aleuj told The Malaysian Insight.

“As long as the loggers don’t leave, and the logging issues remain, we will keep building the blockades.”

The 30-year-old, whose tribe lives in Kg Sg Papan, said villagers are not afraid of police.

“They think when they come to arrest us, we will stop. But we are not afraid.

“What we are doing is protecting our rights as Orang Asli, and the ancestral land we inherited.”

Anjang is Jaringan Orang Asal Semalaysia Semenanjung secretary, and the group intends to hand over a memorandum on logging to Perak’s Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.

He said the letter will be submitted to the ruler as soon as three tribesmen are released from police custody.

The Gerik magistrates’ court yesterday extended the trio’s remand by two days. They are expected to be released today.

“At the moment, our focus is to free those arrested, and we will not stray outside our customary land,” said Anjang.

Meanwhile, Fauzi Bani, who lives in Kg Sg Jelmol, said Orang Asli tribes living nearby arrived last week to offer support to their beleaguered neighbours.

He said the Orang Asli in Hulu Perak and Sg Siput Utara stand with the Gerik community on this.

Fauzi said this is the first time members of the Temiar tribe are detained for such a long time for putting up blockades.  

“Before this, it took less than two days (for Orang Asli to be released). The folk in Pos Piah and Kg Cunex were not detained long (for setting up blockades to prevent logging).”

The Temiar’s allies in the battle with loggers are the Orang Asli in Kg Cunex, Kg Ong Jelmol, Kg Sg Leyef and Kg Pos Piah.

Clashes between Orang Asli and loggers in Gerik have escalated since last week.

According to the lawyer for the Temiar detainees, Thiyagu Ganesan, his clients are guilty of nothing more than preventing loggers from encroaching on their customary land.

“They believe it’s their right to protect their customary land.”

The Forestry Department has denied that Orang Asli land was encroached on by loggers.

In a statement on Tuesday, it said a logging company had obtained from the state government logging rights to a plot of land adjacent to the Ulu Chepam forest reserve.

Meanwhile, Anjang slammed the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) for not standing up for the Temiar.

He said Jakoa had failed to map the area, forcing Kg Sg Papan residents to do it on their own.

“Our customary land is sectioned into grounds for hunting, harvesting forest produce, farming, walking paths, history and burial. That is what customary land means.

“We have been living here since the time of our ancestors.”

At the same time, he said, the flora and fauna of the land are also documented by villagers.

“We list all that is on our customary land – the trees, hills, mountains, rivers and animals.

“We use the same mapping method as the Forestry Department’s, except we do it ourselves.”

Anjang denied the department’s claim that the villagers’ blockades were on Felda land.

“We did not trespass on Felda land. It was Felda that took our land.” – July 25, 2019.