Orang Asli can stay on their land until appeal disposed of
The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today granted permanent stay by consent to the Jakun Orang Asli in Kampung Peta, near Mersing in Johor, to remain on their customary land until the disposal of their judicial review appeal against the Johor Land and Mines Department.
The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today granted permanent stay by consent to the Jakun Orang Asli in Kampung Peta, near Mersing in Johor, to remain on their customary land until the disposal of their judicial review appeal against the Johor Land and Mines Department.
The Mersing Land Office had on Jan 21 issued a 24-hour notice to the Jakun Orang Asli tribe to vacate their customary land that they had been occupying since the 1940s.
On March 22, the Johor Baru High Court rejected their plea to initiate a judicial review application to challenge the state eviction order, causing them to live in fear of being evicted.
The Jakun Orang Asli led by village headperson Sangka Chuka and resident Nasir Kantan filed their application on behalf of 97 others.
They named the Johor Land and Mines Department; National Park Corporation, Johor; the director-general of the Orang Asli Affairs Department (JHEOA); the Johor government; and the federal government as respondents.
After the Court of Appeal granted a temporary stay on the High Court ruling on June 26, the three-member panel today allowed for a permanent stay until the disposal of their appeal.
This followed followed consent to the stay application from Johor legal adviser Sharizal Shaari and senior federal counsel Nurul Farhana Khalid.
The bench comprised Court of Appeal judges Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad, Abdul Wahab Patail, and Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim.
Counsel Steven Thiru, S Yogeswaran, M Rajkumar, and Darmain Segaran represented the Jakun Orang Asli today.
Located at entrance to Endau-Rompin park
Some 28 families made up of 118 Jakun Orang Asli are affected by the move to seize their land, which is within the Endau-Rompin national park, where, according to early documents show, they have been living on the 218.8-hectare site since the 1940s.
The Jakun Orang Asli have applied for an early appeal hearing date in light of the urgency of the situation.
Thiru, who is the Bar Council's Orang Asli Rights Committee chairperson, said the affected area is situated at the gateway to the national park, which was gazetted in 1989. The settlement therefore predates the national park.
The park covers an area of 6,000ha and is said to be one of the richest in the world in biodiversity.
"It is their ancestral land and they also have their ancestors' graves there. The authorities wanted to evict them, within 24 hours, which is improper," Thiru said.
