A group of Orang Asli in Kluang, Johor, are claiming their right to cultivate 140 acres of oil palm land, despite facing physical threats.

The residents of Kampung Orang Asli Pengkalan Tereh said a group of workers who were clearing the area told them to leave or they would have to face the police.

Umno chief Ramli Usof told Malaysiakini that about 20 indigenous people had been cultivating the land they rented from a developer since 1983.

He said they were only made aware that the land had been sold to another company in May this year, when the clearing work started last week.

Expressing their dissatisfaction to the company workers, the Orang Asli were however, in turn, threatened by the workers.

“The Orang Asli said they were told by the workers that the police will be called in if they were to disrupt the land clearing work,” he said.

Ramli, together with the Orang Asli, lodged a police report against the company at the Kluang police station last Friday.

He added that he had contacted Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who is also the Sembrong MP for his help. 

However, he has yet to receive any response to the text message from the minister.

Reserve for developers?

The villagers planted oil palm trees on 70 acres of land which they had rented for more than three decades.

They also claimed the Johor sultan had given them an additional 70 acres to supplement their income.

Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia (JKOASM) coordinator Shafie Dris (left) said that issues pertaining to the Orang Asli settlement had been agreed upon by the Johor state government in 1984.

The land was to be gazetted as reserves for the Orang Asli.

“So, it is strange how the Kluang land administration had approved the (sale of the) land to the developer,” he said.  

Attempts by Malaysiakini to reach the Kluang district office have been unsuccessful.