Orang asli bemoan land exploitation

Friday February 18, 2011 The Star online GUA MUSANG: Orang asli settlers in Pos Balar claimed they lost their source of income when a firm cleared their 100ha rubber plantation to develop a project called ‘Ladang Rakyat’. They said the Kelantan PAS government appointed the company to develop the land. Sugi Alang, 26, said most of the area had been used for agriculture by the orang asli for the past 20 years. In need of assistance: Nik Aziz (left) receiving a memorandum pertaining to the ruins caused by the ‘Ladang Rakyat’ project from an Orang Asli Community representative in Kota Baru, Kelantan on Monday. — Bernama “We planted rubber and other crops, but the company has now cut down the rubber trees,” he said. He added that the state government should have resolved the land issue with the orang asli first, instead of giving priority to a foreign company. Another settler, Samri Talib, 30, said a water catchment area on a hill in the premises had been damaged when the forest was cleared for the estate. “We are concerned over this,” he said. Galas state assemblyman Abdul Aziz Yusoff said he had received similar complaints from the other orang asli in the Lojing, Pos Brooke, Bihai, Pulat, Pasik and Kuala Betis areas. He promised to bring up the issue at the Umno divisional meeting so that Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, as the division head, could take action. Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said the land had been acquired because there was no clearly-defined boundary. “The state government approved the application from the company concerned because it was under the impression that no one owned the land,” he said. Nik Aziz said the Kelantan government would set up a committee to investigate any problems that might arise. Ladang Rakyat chief executive officer Dr Nazmi Ghazali Azmi reiterated by saying that the project in Gua Musang did not involve the orang asli settlement