THE Semelai tribe in Bera and Temerloh in Pahang have been ordered out of their native customary land to make way for the state government’s group settlement plan.

This is the culmination of an 18-year-old battle by the Orang Asli tribe to hold on to their land. But they are not giving up easily as they are making another appeal to the state government, failing which they are considering legal action.

Center of Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) coordinator Colin Nicholas said the Orang Asli have been asked to move to make way for participants in the group settlement plan called Rancangan Tanah Berkelompok (group settlement plan) Jelam.

“The current encroachments are linked to the plan to develop RTK Jelam, which will comprise of mainly Malays from Kg Jeram and Kg Durian Tawar in Temerloh district.

“The Semelai tribe claimed they had occupied the land before 1948. But as is the case for most parts of two districts, the area is regarded as a Malay Reserve,” Nicholas said.

The two villages, Kg Paya Badak and Kg Paya Berangan, sit on the border of the Temerloh and Bera districts, with all of Paya Berangan being in the Bera district.

The two villages are located near a main road and are accessible by car. It is home to 200 villagers and has electricity but no clean water.

Sari Sapar, the tribe chief (jurekerah) of the two villages said the Orang Asli have been fighting for their customary land since 2003.

They have appealed to the state government and the department of Orang Asli to help them get recognition for their land, but in the last 18 years, no one has come to their aid.

Now the villagers have been asked to vacate their customary land, which has been their home for decades and they have nowhere to go.

“They have asked us to move out of this land but where are we supposed to go?

“We first settled on this land in 1948, before Merdeka. We have lived here for a very long time.

“Our orchards are here, we have planted rubber trees, built houses and even our ancestors’ graves on this land,” he said.

Sari said the villagers are now subjected to intimidation by individuals since they have refused to vacate the land.

The latest incident occurred on May 12 when unknown individuals encroached into their land and burned down a house belonging to a villager.

“We don’t know who came and burned down the house. We didn’t see who it was so we don’t want to point fingers at anyone,” said Sari, adding that the owner of the house lodged a police report.

Sari said the owner of the house has since lodged a police report.

He also recalled an incident where an individual who identified himself as a policeman intimidated an elderly villager.

“This man came and introduced himself as a policeman, but we don’t know for certain. He had told the villagers that they would be taking the land after Hari Raya.

“The villager was an old man so he did not ask too many questions, such as which police station the man was from,” he said.

Sari said he had written to the Bera land and district office on November 31, 2015, informing them of the encroachment on their customary land, but nothing came out of that.

In his letter, Sari said the Semelai are the rightful owners of 47ha of native customary land, but it has not been gazetted by the state government.

The land office, in a reply on February 3, 2016 to the Department of Orang Asli (Jakoa), said that 42ha of the native customary land has been allocated for RTK Jelam.

The land was split between 158 individuals with 4.8ha of RTK Jelam eating into the area where the houses and graves of the Orang Asli are.

Legal action as last resort

With no help coming from the land office or Jakoa, Sari decided to write a memorandum to Senator Manolan Mohamad from PKR to ask for his help.

Manolan, who is also from the Semelai tribe had paid a visit to the villagers on February 22 this year.

“They have complained to Jakoa, to the menteri besar’s office and they have even lodged police reports about the encroachment on their customary land but no actions have been taken,” Manolan told The Malaysian Insight.

Manolan said the Semelai’s customary land is quite valuable due to a bridge that has been built to connect Bera and Temerloh.

“They have built a bridge to cross the Pahang river and connect Bera to Temerloh. The Bera side of the bridge is connected to the Orang Asli’s land. So, it’s quite valuable,” he said.

Sari and the villagers sent a memorandum dated February 27, 2021, to officially ask Manolan for his help, adding that they vehemently opposed the encroachment on their land.

Sari said unknown individuals had encroached on their customary land and planted boundary stones (batu geran) and cut down their rubber trees.

“We are upset with these actions. Proper action should be taken against these individuals.

“I hope that you can also help us remove and stop the placement of more boundary stones on our ancestral land and we would also hope that the group land settlement plan be investigated,” Sari wrote in his memorandum to Manolan.

Manolan also corroborated Sari’s accounts of intimidation, saying that these people have set off fireworks and such to scare the villagers.

There were also individuals who confronted the villagers and verbally abused them, he said.

Manolan said he has advised the villagers to write a letter to the menteri besar again to plead their case. Failing which, the villagers will be considering legal action.

“They are looking to take legal action but we are trying to see if we can settle with the state government first.

“I have asked them to form a village development and security committee and to send a letter to the menteri besar.

“In the meantime, we are collecting all the evidence to show that this is in fact their native customary land. They have strong evidence,” Manolan added. – May 19, 2021.