Some 118 members of the Jakun tribe in Kampung Orang Asli Peta in Mersing, Johor, can breathe a sigh of relief until Aug 14.

The Court of Appeal today granted an interim stay against the Mersing district land administrator and five others, restraining them from evicting the community from their ancestral land within the Endau-Rompin national park.

The applicants represent 28 families who have lived on the 218.8 ha site for hundreds of years. Early historical documents show that the tribe has occupied the site since the 1940s.

NONE However, on Jan 17 this year, the Johor authorities ordered them to vacate the land within 24 hours and without providing them with an alternative site.

The tribe sought judicial review to quash the order, with village head Sangka Chuka and resident Nasir Kantan filing the application on behalf of 97 others in the High Court in Johor Bahru.

Apart from the Mersing district land administrator, 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.

Their move suffered a setback when, on May 22, the High Court refused to grant leave (permission) for the community to initiate the judicial review.

They then filed an appeal - and today both parties consented to an interim stay. This will be in effect until an inter-parte stay is heard by the Court of Appeal on Aug 14.

The agreement was recorded before Justices Abu Samah Nordin, Linton Albert and Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim.

NONE Steven Thiru (right) , Yogeswaran Subramaniam, M Rajkumar and Darmain Segaran represented the appellants, while senior federal counsel Muzila Mohamed Arsad appeared for the respondents.

Thiru, who chairs the Bar Counci’s Orang Asli Rights Committee, told reporters that the land is situated at the gateway to the national park, which was gazetted in 1989.

The park covers an area of 6,000ha and is one of the most richest in biodiversity in the world.

"They have their ancestral land and also their ancestors’ graves  there. Now, the authorities want to evict them within 24 hours," Thiru said.

Showing images of some of the houses, the lawyers said these were put up by the JHEOA which has now decided to evict the Orang Asli.

‘Settlement pre-dates national park’

In his affidavit-in- support of the judicial review application, Nasir said the Orang Asli are descendants of the indigenous peoples who have lived in Peninsular Malaysia since before the period of early Malay migration.

He claimed that they have acquired customary and proprietary rights to land by virtue of the native title and use of the land.

Nasir claimed that, based on Article 8 of the federal constitution regarding equality and the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954, the respondents have a constitutional duty to gazette native customary land, as well as protect the community’s welfare, and preserve and protect their property and customary rights to the land.

NONE He claimed that the national park does not encompass the customary land of Kampung Orang Asli Peta and does not include land around Tapak Sungai Jaler, Pantai Burung, and Kuala Jasing. A.

Under the eviction order, 26 of the 76 houses in the settlement must be vacated and are under immediate threat of demolition by the Mersing Land Office. Nasir claimed that these houses pre-date the creation of the Endau-Rompin National Park in 1989.

The community is seeking a declaration that they are the holders of the native title and customary land rights to Kampung Peta, and also a declaration that the respondents are not entitled to restrict or remove their rights to the land without adequate compensation.