TEARFUL Orang Asli activists linked arms and stood their ground as the authorities from the Kelantan government tore down blockades that the natives had built and maintained for the past seven months against loggers and planters.

The combined operation against three blockades in the Ulu Kelantan jungles came after the federal and Kelantan governments failed to resolve competing land claims between the Temiar tribes of Gua Musang and agri-businesses.

Some 200 personnel from the Kelantan Forestry Department and the Gua Musang Land and Mines Office descended on the Cawas, Kaleg and Kegeg blockades earlier today.

They dismantled the wooden poles of the barricades by untying and cutting through the vines used to hold the beams together.

Unlike in previous operations, there was no use of chainsaws and axes, as the enforcement officers patiently pried apart the beams and carried them to one side.  

Some 80 uniformed policemen and personnel from the General Operations Force (GOF) were on standby to ensure that things did not get out of hand.  

Activists from the Kelantan Indigenous People’s Network (JKOAK), who had built and maintained the blockades, did not resist or attempt to fight the demolition.

At the Kaleg blockade, some 100 Orang Asli youths formed a human shield near the wooden barricade that they had built as they saw pick-up trucks and jeeps bearing uniformed personnel approaching the blockade. 

The Kaleg blockade has been the scene of tense confrontations between JKOAK activists and planters in the past few months, as the former has blocked the sole access road to timber latex clone (TLC), pineapple and durian plantations.   

Aiming to avoid any violence or provocation, officers from the Forestry Department first approached the Orang Asli human chain to persuade them to remove the structures blocking the road.

“We are just following orders from above. We kindly ask you to remove the barricades. We hope that you can cooperate. Please,” said a Forestry Department officer to the leader of the Kaleg blockade, Nur Mohd Syafiq Dendi Abdullah.

“We are asking nicely. This is an order from the state government. Please cooperate with us. We are giving you an opportunity.

“We don’t want to use force or to arrest anyone. We just ask for your cooperation to remove the blockade and give way,” the officer, who declined to be named, told Syafiq.

Syafiq, who stood in the middle of the human chain, refused to budge.

“We are not removing the barricade and we are ready to face whatever action.”

After failing to persuade the activists, the officer was seen conferring with his colleagues before giving the order to take apart the barricade.

At this order, teams of forestry and PTG personnel began disassembling the wooden beams and ropes holding the blockades together.

On the other side, Syafiq cried as he and his colleagues continued to maintain the human chain and watched as the barricade was taken apart.   

It took teams of between five and six men to dislodge two of the biggest tree trunks which had formed the main blockade’s pillars. The blockade at Kaleg was torn down in 30 minutes.

Despite the absence of their blockade, the activists continued to stand and block the road.

The same officers then attempted to persuade the activists to disperse and not block the road but the group ignored his pleas.

After getting only glares from Syafiq and the other activists, the officer said the department will station their own personnel to wait them out.

Syafiq told The Malaysian Insight, the human barricade was to replace the one that was destroyed.

“We will continue to sit and block the road. We will do this until our demands are met by the government.” – August 27, 2018.