AFTER a standoff of more than a month, tension returned to the Orang Asli settlement in Ulu Geruntum, Gopeng, when contractors armed with chainsaws and riding tractors turned up to tear down nine huts built on the proposed site for mini hydro dams.

Fearing that their ancestral land would be encroached on, members of the Semai tribe on Sunday set up a blockade at the entrance leading to the huts, where their families are staying, after finding out that contractors had started laying construction materials nearby last week.

The precaution was taken after the Semai returned on March 3 from the Ipoh High Court, where the status of their ancestral land is being disputed by the Perak government.

Villager Wah Sona told The Malaysian Insight that eight to 10 contractors, accompanied by policemen, turned up at the village on Monday morning.

“The contractors wanted to remove our huts. But we didn’t allow them to enter the site.

“The Orang Asli leaders were told to go to the Gopeng police station to discuss the situation.”

At the station, said the 49-year-old, they were warned that they would be arrested if they kept resisting the project, which has been approved by the state government.

However, she said, the Semai are staying put and will continue their blockade.

“We have a right to this land. Our huts are still standing, and we will continue to stop anyone from encroaching on our land.”

The villagers had hoped that the new state government would scrap the hydroelectric project mooted by the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

The project involves building 31 mini dams along three rivers, including Sg Kampar. The suit filed by the Semai is against the dams that would affect their land.

Despite their demands, the Pakatan Harapan state government last year gave the green light for the project to resume, on the grounds that it was contractually obliged to do so.

Lawyers had filed a suit to stop the project and obtain recognition of the tribe’s native customary land before the general election in May 2018.

On March 2, their case started at the high court.

Villagers have been protesting against the project since 2012. It started with a series of 25 mini dams across the state that BN approved that year, with another six given the nod in 2013. In all, the dams cost RM2.92 billion.

The Semai have accused the concessionaire, Perak Hydro, of destroying their ancestral graves and crops to build a road during construction and encroaching on their land. – March 11, 2020.