Protect natives' land, Bar urges Kelantan
Published: Jan 30, 2012 5:47 PM | Updated: Jan 30, 2012 8:39 PM
The Kelantan government should protect the Temiar people’s native customary land as if it were a gazetted Orang Asli reserve land, urged the Bar Council, citing a legal precedent.
Citing a legal precedent, the Bar Council says native customary land should be protected as if it were a gazetted Orang Asli reserve land.
The Kelantan government should protect the Temiar people’s native customary land as if it were a gazetted Orang Asli reserve land, urged the Bar Council, citing a legal precedent.
“The Court of Appeal in the Sagong Tasi case made it absolutely clear that non-gazetted Orang Asli land that is native customary land must nonetheless be protected in the same way as gazetted Orang Asli reserve land,” said the council’s vice-president Christopher Leong.
“The Malaysian Bar urges the Kelantan state government to follow this landmark decision and accept that the lands of the Temiar people in Gua Musang are native customary lands, and therefore deserving of protection,” he said in a statement today.
Leong was responding to the last Saturday incident where the Temiar community in Gua Musang attempted to set up a blockade to bar loggers from entering their villages. It was subsequently burnt down by police, who also arrested 13 Orang Asli and a lawyer who attempted to intervene.
He added that any development on native customary lands should adhere to the principle of “free, prior and informed consent” as laid down by the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, for which he said the Malaysian government had voted in favour.
In a separate statement, pro-reform NGO Aliran’s honorary secretary Mustafa K Anuar expressed shock over the incident.
He said conflicts between indigenous groups and state authorities are not new in the country, but the location sets the Gua Musang incident apart.
“What makes this Gua Musang confrontation different from most of these conflicts is that it surprisingly happened in a Pakatan Rakyat-ruled state where compassion is expected to prevail above everything else and respect for the right to ancestral land is expected to be honoured as a matter of right.
“This is the expectation by many concerned Malaysians,” he said.
Mustafa urged the Kelantan government to negotiate with Temiar representatives “to ensure that justice and dignity are accorded to this marginalised group”.
Lawyer’s arrest ‘disproportionate and unlawful’
In its statement, the Bar Council also condemned the arrests, in particular that of lawyer Siti Zabedah Kasim, who is legal counsel for the Temiar community and a member of the council’s Committee for Orang Asli Rights.
By preventing her from performing her duties, Leong said police deprived the arrested Orang Asli of legal representation, which is a clear breach of Article 5 of the federal constitution.
“The Malaysian Bar considers the actions employed by the police as being disproportionate, unnecessary and unlawful.
“We call on the police to put an immediate stop to this unacceptable, yet frequent, practice of interfering with lawyers who are carrying out their professional duties,” he said.
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“The Court of Appeal in the Sagong Tasi case made it absolutely clear that non-gazetted Orang Asli land that is native customary land must nonetheless be protected in the same way as gazetted Orang Asli reserve land,” said the council’s vice-president Christopher Leong.
“The Malaysian Bar urges the Kelantan state government to follow this landmark decision and accept that the lands of the Temiar people in Gua Musang are native customary lands, and therefore deserving of protection,” he said in a statement today.
Leong was responding to the last Saturday incident where the Temiar community in Gua Musang attempted to set up a blockade to bar loggers from entering their villages. It was subsequently burnt down by police, who also arrested 13 Orang Asli and a lawyer who attempted to intervene.He added that any development on native customary lands should adhere to the principle of “free, prior and informed consent” as laid down by the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, for which he said the Malaysian government had voted in favour.
In a separate statement, pro-reform NGO Aliran’s honorary secretary Mustafa K Anuar expressed shock over the incident.
He said conflicts between indigenous groups and state authorities are not new in the country, but the location sets the Gua Musang incident apart.“What makes this Gua Musang confrontation different from most of these conflicts is that it surprisingly happened in a Pakatan Rakyat-ruled state where compassion is expected to prevail above everything else and respect for the right to ancestral land is expected to be honoured as a matter of right.
“This is the expectation by many concerned Malaysians,” he said.
Mustafa urged the Kelantan government to negotiate with Temiar representatives “to ensure that justice and dignity are accorded to this marginalised group”.
Lawyer’s arrest ‘disproportionate and unlawful’
In its statement, the Bar Council also condemned the arrests, in particular that of lawyer Siti Zabedah Kasim, who is legal counsel for the Temiar community and a member of the council’s Committee for Orang Asli Rights.
By preventing her from performing her duties, Leong said police deprived the arrested Orang Asli of legal representation, which is a clear breach of Article 5 of the federal constitution.
“The Malaysian Bar considers the actions employed by the police as being disproportionate, unnecessary and unlawful.
“We call on the police to put an immediate stop to this unacceptable, yet frequent, practice of interfering with lawyers who are carrying out their professional duties,” he said.
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Kedah speaker gets leave to appeal over Kota Siputeh
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