P Waytha Moorthy urged Attorney-General Idrus Harun to appeal against the “baffling” decision as the federal government has a role to protect and defend the rights of the indigenous people.

In a statement, he said both the Federal Constitution and the pre-independence Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 placed the duty of ensuring the well-being and advancement of the Orang Asli people in the hands of the federal government.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal ruled that Putrajaya had no locus standi to file a suit against the Kelantan government over alleged encroachments into Orang Asli settlements in Gua Musang, after it granted logging licences to a number of private companies.

In its statement of claim, Putrajaya had said the state government’s actions had deprived the Temiar Orang Asli of their native land and resources and caused widespread erosion, pollution and irreparable damage to the ecology and landscape of Pos Simpor.

Waytha, the president of the Malaysian Advancement Party, said the federal government is the trustee of the people and has a duty to step in when there is a trampling of rights of its citizens, including the Orang Asli.

He said the establishment of the department of Orang Asli development, and the policies adopted in 1961 to ensure their land rights are recognised, illustrated the government’s important role in defending the indigenous population.

“The locus standi of the federal government is further enhanced in the Federal Constitution to establish land reserves for the Orang Asli. Specifically, the acquisition of land for the creation of reserves for Orang Asli comes within the meaning of the definition of ‘federal purposes’, as contained in Article 160(2).”