Dengkil Orang Asli protest private development

About 200 Orang Asli gathered at the Tanah Liat Pulasan Orang Asli settlement in Dengkil today in protest against recent development works in their area.

A private developer is staking their claim on the land - one of the last few plots designated for the Orang Asli - for housing development.

An Orang Asli company, along with 30 original settlers, was planning for a fish farming project.

They had begun clearing works when the private developer showed up to claim the land as theirs.

“How can they have the title to the land, when it is designated by the Orang Asli Act 1954 (134) that this land belongs to us?” said Asang Ngah, a representative of the Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia (JOAS).

Asang (left) said the developer has yet to produce a copy of the alleged land title when asked.

“We have lodged a report at the Taman Putra Perdana police station yesterday about this matter,” said Asang.

Orang Asli planning development

Asang said the 120-acre land was till now largely untouched except for small agricultural projects, due to a flood in the early 1970s that forced early settlers to relocate.
       
“This proposed fish farming project will create more employment opportunities and more money for the Orang Asli community.

“This can be channelled back into development funds for education and welfare of the community,” said Asang.

There has been a number of disputes over Orang Asli land rights.

Last month, after a 15-year legal battle, 26 families of a Temuan tribe in Selangor won RM6.5 million in compensation for their native customary land which was seized to build a highway to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 

There appeared to be increase activism among the Orang Asli in demanding recognition for their land rights.

On March 17, the community protested in Putrajaya to amendments in the National Land Code, among others.

Two months later, they handed a memorandum to the Rural Development Ministry over their plight.