THE Federal Court has granted Orang Asli settlers from Ulu Geruntum, Gopeng leave to appeal in their bid to stop two companies from carrying out works relating to mini hydroelectric projects on their ancestral land.

In a ruling yesterday, a three-member bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said the applicants had satisfied the requirements under section 96(a) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

Lawyer Vinu Kamalananthan, who is representing the group, said the apex court granted the leave as they were satisfied with the arguments presented. 

“We are now waiting for a date to be fixed for the substantive appeal. 

“This will then be their appeal on why the injunction should not have been set aside by the Court of Appeal,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

On April 21, 2021, Ipoh High Court judicial commissioner G. Bhupindar Singh allowed the group an interlocutory injunction against Perak Hydro Renewable Energy Corporation Sdn Bhd and Conso Hydro or their agents pending the disposal of the main suit.

However, on April 1 last year, the Court of Appeal set aside the injunction. 

Vinu said the next step now is for the Federal Court to hear their arguments on why the Court of Appeal had erred by setting aside the injunction. 

“As the Court of Appeal decision has been stayed, the stop work order is back in effect pending the disposal of the Federal Court appeal.”

Vinu said the Orang Asli are, among others, seeking declarations that the developer cease all works pertaining to the mini hydroelectric projects.

“They want their customary lands to be declared and gazetted as the native and ancestral lands of the Semai tribe.” 

In 2018, 22 Orang Asli filed a suit naming the two private companies, the Perak government, the Perak Land and Mines Department and the federal government as defendants.

The Semai tribe want the project scrapped, accusing the concessionaire, Perak Hydro, of destroying their ancestral graves and crops to build a road during construction and encroaching on their land.

The Semai tribe has been in the ongoing battle against the mini hydro project since 2012. 

The settlers come from six villages in the Ulu Geruntum area, namely Kampung Sungai Kapor, Kampung Sat, Kampung Ulu Kepayang, Kampung Empang Main, Kampung Poh and Kampung Ulu Geruntum. – May 12, 2023.