THE Orang Asli community in Gua Musang, Kelantan, have appealed to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to step in to protect their rights, saying that the community continues to be oppressed despite the country celebrating 61 years of Merdeka.

The Temiar tribe are currently embroiled in a stand-off with the Kelantan forestry department after state officials demolished a blockade set up by the indigenous community to stop logging activities from being carried out in what they claim is their ancestral land.

“We the Orang Asli of Temiar Kelantan urge the federal government under the leadership of PH to immediately take necessary action so that the Orang Asli’s fate is protected and our rights on our ancestral land is upheld, in line with PH’s manifesto,” Azmi Badul, a representative from the Temiar community, said in a statement today.

Azmi said that despite assurances from forestry department officials that logging activities would not continue after the blockade was removed on August 27, heavy machinery continue to be brought in to the area.

“However, based on our observation, the heavy machineries that were brought in were not only those used to take out logs, but machineries used for logging were also brought in.

“We are concerned if the company is continuing their previous activity which was total deforestation followed by the opening of big-scale farms which were proven to have destroyed and wiped out our ancestral land,” said Azmi.

He said the Keyeh blockade which was built since February had helped reduce previously uncontrolled deforestation and protect whatever is left of the Orang Asli land.

However, the statement noted that other sites of the ancestral land have long already been destroyed, such as the Orang Asli cemetery, plantations and historical sites.

On August 11, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had met with a group of Orang Asli activists who had protested outside his office against logging  plantation operations on their land.

The group made a 6-hour trip from Gua Musang to call on the federal government to put an end to long-standing conflicts between the Orang Asli. – September 1, 2018.