ORANG Asli activists battling plantation companies and loggers have rejected claims made by a planter that their community’s leaders supported his projects.

The activists claim that their village elders, known by terms such as as tok batin and penghulu, had never supported such schemes that would eventually lead to the destruction of their customary lands.

This denial is the latest in a long-standing conflict between planters and loggers on one side and the Temiar tribe on the other, for access to the rich forests of Ulu Kelantan, which has seen conflicts break out between the two sides.

Two days ago, Hanif Mohd Kudus, a spokesman for two of the biggest plantation firms operating in Gua Musang, said he had letters signed by five Temiar tribal chiefs who supported his firm’s work.

Today, Indigenous Peoples Network of Kelantan (JKOAK) leader Nur Mohd Syafiq Dendi Abdullah said three of the names on a letter shown by the Hanif deny they supported the companies.

The penghulus are Abong Lehya of Kg Pos Simpor, Seman Senaweng of Kg Jader and Gabon Jernon of Kg Sedal. Their names and signatures were on a March 2010 letter which said that they supported Fleet Precision Sdn Bhd’s operations around the Orang Asli villages of Pos Simpor and Pos Tohoi.

Dendi, however, did not comment on the two other names, Rahmat Abdullah and Anjang Akad of Kg Pos Tohoi.   

Fleet Precision is one of the companies with rubber and pineapple farms on Gua Musang land which the Temiar claim is their customary property.

Hanif, who is a spokesman for Fleet Precision, showed the letter to The Malaysian Insight on August 6.

Dendi claimed that the three chiefs, Abong, Seman and Gabon were deceived into signing the letter.

“They thought they were signing a letter to oppose logging. But in reality, they signed a different letter supporting the project. Abong Lehya is opposed to the project,” Dendi said in a text message.

When contacted, Hanif refuted Dendi’s claims, saying that the signing ceremony was done transparently where each of signatories were present.

“They had a 12 hour meeting and discussion. After that, there was a cooling off period where they could go home and think about what was discussed. It was only after that period did they come back and sign,” he said.

The signed and finger-printed letters Hanif said were then posted all over the villages that were affected.

“The letters were even endorsed by the Orang Asli Development Department. Would the department have endorsed deceitful letters?”

The support he received, Hanif added, was the reason why since 2010, none of his operations were stopped or blocked by the Temiar.

“The activists have to answer this question, why did you not block my vehicles and workers in the past? Why only now?”

Dendi and a group of Temiar activists had maintained a five-month blockade on a dirt road leading from Kuala Betis to the plantations in order to stop the estates from expanding.

The blockade was destroyed on August 4 by a group of chainsaw-wielding men believed to be ad-hoc workers for the plantations.

The destruction of the blockade earned a rebuke from Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Sivarasa Rasiah, who had promised to find an amicable solution to the conflict between agriculture businesses, the Orang Asli and the Kelantan government.

After the demolition of their blockade the activists plan to descend on Putrajaya tomorrow to submit a memorandum highlighting their plight to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. – August 9, 2018.