Its commissioner, Lok Yim Pheng, promised they “will not keep silent” over the issue.

“The Orang Asli should not be deprived of their rights to go into the forests,” she told the 44 Orang Asli of Ledang, who were at Suhakam’s office here. The 44 had earlier handed a memorandum to the human rights body.

Lok urged the department responsible for looking after the welfare of the Orang Asli, the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jakoa), to pay more attention to the plight of the Orang Asli.

“The Orang Asli’s future is at stake. They should be given priority by Jakoa.”

Earlier, Lok met with two Orang Asli village heads, Mengek Ahcai and Jengkeng Jani, representing the villagers of Kampung Sg Air Tawas and Kampung Tanah Gembur.

Both chiefs claimed they were in the dark over fencing and drainage projects by the state government, the contractor Zila Maju and the Johor National Park Corporation.

“We were not consulted at all.”

“The contractor only gave us notice on Nov 30 last year to inform us about their work on our land,” Mengkek said, explaining that construction vehicles and machines were seen in their village on Nov 14.

Mengkek alleged that Jakoa did not come to their aid when they raised the issue with the department.

“They told us they cannot do anything.”

Earlier this week, the Orang Asli filed a suit against the Johor government, Zila Maju, Johor National Park Corporation director and the Malaysian government at the Johor Bahru High Court.

They claimed Zila Maju had violated their rights to their ancestral land.

They also alleged the projects had affected their source of income in cropping fruits and that they had not been compensated.

The 504 villagers are seeking a court declaration that they are the rightful owners of their ancestral land, and an injunction to stop the government and contractors from carrying out construction work on their land.