Would orang Asli be ethnically cleansed?

What thoughts would have went through the minds of the aboriginal peoples of the Temuan tribe from Bukit Tampoi some 15-odd years ago when bulldozers showed up to destroy their homes.

You see the government had decided that the KL International Airport was to be built in Sepang. This required an expressway. What stood in the way of this expressway was the Bukit Tampoi land occupied by the Temuans for at least the last 210 years.

So naturally the Temuans had to make way.

But the Temuans refused as they were not happy with the amount of compensation. The then-Selangor Barisan Nasional state government claimed that the land was state land and refused to recognise that the Temuans had any proprietary interest in the land at all.

Hence, the state refused to compensate the Temuans for the value of the land lost.

On March 22 and 27, 1996, the Temuans were evicted from the land by a police operation. The fruit trees and the crops on the land were destroyed, the houses, the balai raya and the balai adat of the Temuan community were forcibly demolished. Families were unceremoniously asked to go and fend for themselves in unkind weather.

The Temuans took their case to court with the assistance of a team of lawyers who took up the case pro bono. They sued the then-state government of Selangor, the Malaysian Government, Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) and United Engineers Berhad (UEB).

The High Court ruled in their favour. So did the Court of Appeal which held that “this was a case of a case of deliberate trespass the sole purpose of which was to gain the plaintiffs’ land without paying them the full compensation due to them in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act.”

The Court of Appeal went further to say that “this is nevertheless a sad case. Sad, because of the treatment that the plaintiffs received in the hands of the defendants. Here you have a case where the very authority — the state — that is enjoined by the law to protect the aborigines turned upon them and permitted them to be treated in a most shoddy, cruel and oppressive manner.”

The defendants sought and obtained leave to appeal to the Federal Court but the appeal never took off. The March 8, 2008 political tsunami happened and Selangor fell into the hands of the Pakatan Rakyat.

Through the sterling efforts of state assembly member Elizabeth Wong, Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim eventually instructed the state legal adviser to withdraw Selangor’s appeal.

This brought the federal government and the rest of the defendants to the negotiation table.

In the end, LLM paid RM6.5 million in compensation to all the Temuans whose land was taken by the authorities for the construction of the Nilai-Banting highway.

The plight of the Temuans was not an isolated incident.

Despite Rural and Regional Development Deputy Minister Datuk Hasan Malek promising in October 2010 that the federal government would “protect Orang Asli interests”, their rights are still being trampled upon all over the country.

In September 2010, the Orang Asli Laut of Kuala Masai were awarded damages by the Johor Baru High Court for the unlawful demolition of their chapel by the authorities just 10 days before Christmas in 2005.

In October 2010, the Orang Asli of Kampung Mengkapor in Gambang, Pahang lodged a police report against contractors for trespassing and illegally logging their lands.

Last week, Orang Asli settlers in Pos Balar, Gua Musang claimed that they lost their source of income when a firm cleared their 100ha rubber plantation to develop a project called “Ladang Rakyat”.

The Orang Asli deserve better. Their rights ought to be protected and can never be subservient to corporate interests.

The federal government must be pro-active and come down hard on those that take the Orang Asli for a ride. It cannot close its eyes and expect the Orang Asli to battle it out in court every time there are incidences of encroachment.

Despite the federal government setting aside 108,520 hectares to be gazetted as Orang Asli reserves in Peninsular Malaysia, only 19,222 hectares have been gazetted as of 2007.

The statistics and news reports are grim.

If the way we treat our Orang Asli is an indication of how far our civilisation has progressed, then we ought to be ashamed.

This article is dedicated to the brave Temuans of Bukit Tampoi who fought for their rights and won the battle against those who considered them to be expendable.

mysinchew.com