Bidor Orang Asli Protest Quarry Company Encroachment

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The Orang Asli community of Kampung Chang Lama in Bidor, Perak, today protested the encroachment of a company on their ancestral land.
Village tok batin (head) Dahil Yok Chopil said the villagers found signboards along the Jegog area with the name of the company and a warning that trespassers will be prosecuted.
“This action clearly violates the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which requires the free, prior, and informed consent of the indigenous community, which was not obtained.
“The community has endured repeated instances of land dispossession for projects such as pig farming, Musang King durian cultivation, cattle farming, chalets, oil palm plantations, vegetable farming, rubber plantations, guava cultivation, and temple construction.
“These projects have provided no benefit to the Orang Asli community of Kampung Chang Lama Sungai Gepai, but have instead been detrimental, eliminating their rights to their ancestral land and customary territory, while they continue to live below the poverty line,” Dahil said in a statement.
The statement contained the name of the company - a quarry owner - but Malaysiakini will be withholding it until the company replies to a request for comments.
Dahil urged the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) to revoke the company’s land ownership rights over the area.
He also called for Jakoa and the Perak state government to recognise the area as Orang Asli reserve land to prevent recurrences of this incident.
“They (the community) have repeatedly submitted official letters and memorandums, along with the community map, to the state government, demanding the recognition of their ancestral land and customary territory as an Orang Asli reserve.
“However, the state government has yet to grant this recognition,” he said.
Besides that, Dahil questioned whether the company had obtained Jakoa’s written permission to enter the area.
He further opined that the entry of companies into Orang Asli ancestral land should be monitored by Jakoa.
Speaking of the company itself, Dahil said it had been granted a 30-year lease for the site on Feb 14, 2007, which expired on May 26, 2022.
A 44-year lease extension, expiring on May 25, 2066, was registered on Nov 29, 2021, he added.
He explained that the Jegog area is a sacred site to the community as it is where prayer ceremonies and rotational crop farming activities are held.
“The area and its surroundings also contain ancestral burial grounds, including the graves of Moyang Tangkut and Moyang Mawai, a highly respected traditional medicine practitioner who once resided there,” he said.
Overlapping govt and Orang Asli land
Dahil went on to address the erroneous belief that Orang Asli ancestral land is an “empty plot with no owners”.
This belief contradicts the fact that indigenous people have existed on such sites prior to the introduction of the Torrens system of land ownership, he said.
“Consequently, there has been an overlapping of ‘government land’, various types of ‘reserves’, and private lots onto Orang Asli ancestral land and customary territory.
“The tok batin earnestly hopes that the issue of recognising Orang Asli ancestral land and customary territory will be treated with the seriousness it deserves and implemented promptly.
“This is crucial to resolve the ongoing issues, disputes, and polemics surrounding their land rights, preventing further stress, anxiety, and the creation of a ‘ticking time bomb’ for the Orang Asli community,” he asserted. - Mkini

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