LOGGERS are back to plunder Orang Asli tribal lands in a remote corner of northeast Perak now that the state government has changed hands, said villagers and activists.

Kg Sg Papan spokesman Anjang Aleuj said on Tuesday, a logging company returned with four bulldozers and tractors to cut down trees and clear land in the Air Chepam forest reserve near the kampung.

Termiar villagers rebuilt bamboo and wooden blockades across a mud road going into the forest to prevent the loggers from resuming their operations, said Anjang.

“They went in and came out. So, we put blockades to prevent them from returning. We believe they are from the same company that tried to breach our jungles last year,” Anjang told The Malaysian Insight.

The Temiar in the area are claiming 42ha as part of their ancestral land and have opposed attempts to log it.

Throughout last year, villagers put up blockades and pushed back attempts by loggers to breach the jungle.

Three Temiar activists involved in last year’s blockade were arrested and charged last July during the height of the conflict between loggers and the community.

This was after the Perak Forestry Department said the Termiar blockades were erected illegally on land belonging to Felda.

The department said the company had a permit to log the forest.

Perak Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu, who was then heading the Pakatan Harapan state government, nitially dismissed the claim to ancestral land, saying that such a concept did not exist in the state’s laws.

This was disputed by the Bar Council and the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) which pointed out that the Federal Court has ruled that Orang Asli claims to ancestral lands are justified.

The menteri besar then backed down and suspended all logging on land claimed by the Orang Asli in Perak.

Anjang, the Sg Papan villager, said the loggers did not return to the Air Chepam forest after the menteri besar’s instruction.

In March, the Perak government changed hands from PH to Perikatan Nasional after the former was ousted at the federal level.

Faizal switched sides from PH to PN and named as menteri besar once again by a coalition of Umno and PAS assemblymen.

Soon after PN’s takeover, Malaysia went into the movement-control order (MCO) to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The MCO put a stop to most economic activities, including logging and land clearing in the peninsula.

However, most restrictions were lifted on June 10 under the recovery MCO.

Anjang said it appears that the loggers are taking advantage of the RMCO and change of government to return. – June 18, 2020.