GEORGE TOWN: Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) has welcomed the first of its kind civil suit brought by the Federal Government against the Kelantan government for violating Orang Asli native land in Pos Simpor near Gua Musang.
SAM president S.M. Mohamed Idris said it proved the government’s seriousness and sincerity in recognising, respecting and upholding the rights of the Orang Asli in the country as per the Constitution.
“For long, indigenous communities, the country’s most marginalised, have been struggling to have their voices heard and their rights recognised through various means.
“With this suit, we hope that the government will begin looking at reforming all laws and policies put in place during the old regime, which have stopped short of respecting and recognising the customary rights of indigenous peoples,” he said today.
Idris said the time was ripe for the government to show some vigour in the implementation of the recommendations in the National Inquiry Report on Indigenous Land Rights prepared by Suhakam in 2013.
“SAM urgently calls on the Pakatan Harapan government to make good of the promises in their manifesto especially Promises 26 - Make our Human Rights Record Respected by the World; and 38 - Advancing the Interests of Orang Asal in Peninsular Malaysia.
“The manifesto states that the Suhakam report ‘will be brought for Parliamentary debate in the first year of the Pakatan Harapan’s administration’.
Idris went on to say that the Malaysian judiciary, in past cases involving indigenous peoples, had clearly recognised the pre-existing nature of indigenous customary rights and stated that the government owed fiduciary duties to indigenous peoples based on the trust between a trustee (government) and a beneficiary (indigenous peoples).
“These include the duty to protect the customary land rights and welfare of indigenous peoples and to not act in a manner that is inconsistent with those rights and that which may affect their well-being.
“Now that the Pakatan Harapan is in power, they must now ensure that this trust is not betrayed or broken,” he stressed.
Yesterday, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) had filed a civil suit at the High Court of Malaya in Kota Baru on behalf of the Federal Government to seek recognition of the Orang Asli’s land rights in Pos Simpor near Gua Musang.
Attorney General Tommy Thomas was quoted as saying that the AGC also filed an injunction to prevent intrusion and destruction of native land for commercial gain by the private sector.
Thomas said the Kelantan government and its agencies recently issued logging licences to private companies, which then used heavy machinery to fell trees and remove logs out of a vast area of the forest cleared for the planting of durian and rubber trees.
He had also said the Temiar Orang Asli were not consulted before the companies’ licences were approved, nor were they offered any compensation for the resulting erosion, pollution and destruction to the Pos Simpor ecological system and landscape.