Speaking to FMT, COAC coordinator Colin Nicholas said a court decision yesterday, which recognised the Temiar community’s right to 9,300 hectares of land in Gua Musang, should prompt the Kota Baru administration to declare all Orang Asli land as traditional territories.
In yesterday’s ruling, the Kota Baru High Court declared that the 9,300 hectares, covering seven villages, would remain as Temiar customary land. The villages are Kampung Belatim, Kampung Chachuk, Kampung Cegrok, Kampung Cermal, Kampung Sempadek, Kampung Belanga and Kampung Kenben.
Judge Zainal Azman Abdul Aziz ordered the state government and its Land and Mines Department to pay RM50,000 in costs to the plaintiffs.
Nicholas pointed out that this was just one of seven cases the Orang Asli had won.
“The problem is that governments are not recognising all of the earlier court decisions,” he said. “We hope the Kelantan government will now do better than the federal government and other governments and recognise all the Orang Asli traditional territories as Orang Asli land.”
Nicholas said yesterday’s decision affirmed that the authorities had been wrong all the time.
“What it means now is that the authorities, who have all this while been saying that the Orang Asli are the ones causing all the trouble and encroachment, are the ones who are in the wrong.
“The land belongs to the Orang Asli. If you want to log or you want to enter the land, you have to get their permission first.”