A statement from the Attorney-General’s Chambers said the activists need not pay the costs of RM3,000 each to the federal government and the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa), who were defendants in a suit by the activists.

“Similarly, the State Legal Adviser of Pahang has agreed to waive the costs,” the statement added.

On Jan 8, the settlers presented an appeal to Thomas following a court ruling in a case concerning native land rights three years ago.

Pos Lanai action committee chairman Jeffry Hassan and 10 other Orang Asli had filed a suit to halt Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s (TNB) hydroelectric dam project in Telom.

They named TNB, Jakoa as well as Putrajaya and the Pahang state government as the defendants.

The Temerloh High Court ordered the plaintiffs to pay RM3,000 each to the last three defendants, and they had recently received a letter from the Attorney-General’s Chambers to settle the amount.

“We are appealing to the AG to waive the total costs as the case is of public interest,” he told reporters before handing over the appeal to Wasri Ahmad Sujani, a representative of the AG.

The hydroelectric dam, approved in 2013, was to be the third biggest in Peninsular Malaysia, generating 132 megawatts of energy.

In their statement of claim against TNB, filed in May 2015, the plaintiffs said TNB had received the green light for the project from the Pahang government and the Energy Commission, but neither the Orang Asli nor the Department of Environment was consulted.

They claimed the project, covering 7,600ha of ancestral land, would displace almost 300 indigenous families, comprising 1,500 individuals.

TNB managed to obtain an injunction against the plaintiffs from stopping them from going ahead with the project.