Take up land issue with Risda, Orang Asli told

The plight of a Semai Orang Asli community in Ulu Slim, Perak, over the loss of their ancestral land is likely to remain unresolved unless the current owner is willing to surrender the rights to the site in question.

Department of Orang Asli Affairs (JHEOA) Tapah director Nordin Mie said the issue goes back to the transfer of the land to the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) decades ago, by the Perak land and mines department.

Nordin Mie suggested that, since the Orang Asli have lived and worked on said land for generations, they could try petitioning Risda to forego ownership in order to settle the issue equitably.

"Perhaps we can attempt to persuade the higher levels of Risda to do so. The land, after all, belongs to Risda," said Nordin when contacted yesterday.

The dispute has arisen between the villagers of Kampung Gesau and Risda subsidiary Estet Pekebun Sdn Bhd (Espek), following the village chief’s attempt to start an oil palm project to generate income for the Orang Asli community.

Tok Batin Gaharai Kadek, 52, has over the past 15 years sought funding assistance from various government agencies as well as government backing for the project.

The efforts included submitting an application in 1992 for a land grant from the local district office in recognition of the villagers’ claim to the land. According to Gaharai, the district officer had told him ‘the Orang Asli are not in need of a grant to work their own lands’.

Having given up on getting help from the government, Gaharai last November took out his savings earned from service in the army and went about doing clearance and planting works on some 13ha of the land adjacent to Kampung Gesau.

Soon after, however, he was informed that Espek had lodged a police report against him for encroaching on ‘its’ land.

At a meeting with Nordin and officials of Espek and the land department on Dec14, Gaharai was surprised to hear that Risda had been given more than 2,240ha in 1974 by the state government. Of this, 14.73ha lies within Kampung Gesau.

According to the minutes of meeting prepared by Espek - a copy of which was obtained by Malaysiakini - Nordin faulted the government for failing to grant Orang Asli ownership over the land, as they have lived and worked on it. Ironically, they are now accused of encroachment.

Commenting on this today, Nordin criticised Risda for having left the land idle for more than three decades and only making a fuss after Gaharai took the trouble to develop it.

"(Risda) knew (the land) was theirs, why did they not put up any notices or otherwise inform the villagers of their claim? Only now after it has been worked on are they now claiming possession over it," he said.

When contacted, Risda’s Ulu Slim estate manager Ghafar Tambi - who also heads Espec’s Ulu Slim office - said the Orang Asli claim is "not a problem for Risda" to lose sleep over.

"You have to ask the (land and mines department) and JHEOA about that. As far as we are concerned, the land is legally ours, it was transferred to Risda in 1974, and I am responsible for carrying out the prerogatives of Risda," he said in reference to the police report against Gaharai.

Ghafar said he had told Gaharai to stop working on the land, as soon as the activities were observed last November.

"He told me we’ll meet over the issue and discuss... (But) he just carried on with what he was doing," he said.

Ghafar said Risda is willing to compensate Gaharai for what he has spent to date, but that the matter could not be finalised as the latter did not turn up for a second meeting of all parties.

Asked about this, Gaharai explained that he did not want to discuss compensation as yet because he felt the manner in which the issue has developed made it unlikely that the meeting would be conducted on terms that are fair to him and the villagers.

"I don’t know what will happen at such a meeting if I go alone and I’m offered the money. Perhaps other conditions and demands will be placed on me, (and) I don’t know what they will be," he said.

Behrang state assemblyperson KRA Naidu - whose constituency includes the Ulu Slim area - had earlier expressed concern about the Kampung Gesau issue and vowed to take it up with Perak Menteri Besar Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali.

"I’m also not happy with the recent developments, and I will be taking it up with the higher authorities and do all things necessary. Espek says the Orang Asli have encroached on their land, but I think it’s the other way around," he said

"The Orang Asli voiced their concerns to me and they have every reason to be concerned."