ORANG Asli from different tribes marched to the Selangor Menteri Besar’s office in Shah Alam today to protest against plans to degazette the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve.

They gathered at Dataran Shah Alam at 11am and walked about 1km to the Selangor secretariat building while shouting slogans objecting to plans to develop the forest.

More than 200 Orang Asli from 12 villagers and different tribes are protesting against the state government’s plans to degazette 930ha of forest reserve.

The Temuan tribe in villages near the forests will be the most affected, but the other tribes, which include the Mah Meri from Pulau Carey, came in solidarity.

Rahman Pahat, the head of three Temuan villages of Pulau Kempas, Bukit Cheeding and Bukit  Kecil Village, said they hoped Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari would meet the Orang Asli to consider shelving degazettement plans.

“We want the menteri besar to reconsider degazetting the forest reserve. This is our home and we have been living here for many years. 

“If the area is developed then we lose our identity and natural resources,” he after handing a protest memorandum to the menteri besar outside the building.

The letter was received by Borhan Aman Shah, from the MB’s office, who said the matter would be studied.

Rahman said the Orang Asli had also sent a letter to the Selangor sultan on their grouses two weeks ago.

The Malaysian Insight reported that the Temuan tribe said it has documents, including a copy of a government gazette in 1927, which shows that the land is theirs.

The forest is home to about 1,000 Orang Asli from the Temuan tribe, who live in four villages surrounding it.

The Selangor government has said that any plan to develop the forest will not touch the Orang Asli villages.

Amirudin, the menteri besar, has also said that a final decision has not been made as the state government will receive public views on the degazettement proposal.

Amirudin, however, drew flak for saying that the 930ha area of the forest to be degazetted is a degraded jungle and a fire hazard.

Environmental groups said Amirudin had the wrong information, as the forest has been replanted and was no longer a fire risk, thanks to the efforts of the Orang Asli to care for and rehabilitate the area.

They also said the state government is flouting its Selangor Structure Plan 2035 and the Kuala Langat local plan 2018, both of which designate the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve as an “environmentally sensitive area” to be conserved as a water catchment area for southern Selangor and as a carbon sink. – February 26, 2020.