“After the Cabinet is briefed, the media will be informed,” said the unnamed official.

In June, a “mysterious” illness was reported to have caused the deaths of 15 Orang Asli villagers. Of these, three died in the village while another 12 were reported to have died while travelling to Gua Musang from Taman Negara in Pahang.

While the cause of deaths of the three from the village has been identified as measles, the full post-mortem results on the other 12 have yet to be revealed.

Yesterday, in a report in Britain’s The Guardian, Dr Steven Chow, president of the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM), dismissed the government’s claim that an outbreak of measles had caused the deaths.

This was not the first time Chow had made this claim, having also done so in July when he asked for the post-mortem results on the 12 over doubts that measles was solely to blame.

Chow claimed his group had found higher-than-normal levels of manganese in water samples taken from a source used by Kuala Koh villagers.

A manganese mine near the village was sealed after it was found to be operating without permission.

Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye had explained then that the ministry was still waiting for the results of toxicology tests and that the government was not trying to hide anything.

Lee said his ministry’s screening of villagers did not indicate any symptoms of manganese poisoning, such as abnormal behaviour or movements.

He also referred to investigations carried out by the energy, science, technology, environment and climate change ministry, saying it had taken water samples but didn’t find any chemicals to be at a level beyond the safety limit.

He advised FPMPAM to lodge a report with the ministry if it believed the village’s water source was contaminated.