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Kelantan Loggers Association denies forest clearing claims in Gua Musang

The Kelantan Loggers Association (PPK) has denied allegations that it had carried out forest clearing activities in the Balah Permanent Forest Reserve in Gua Musang and bullied the Orang Asli living in that area.

Its president PK Lim said the Kelantan Timber Complex Sdn Bhd had been granted a concession to carry out logging activities in the forest legally and it had complied with the prescribed conditions.

He said the commotion involving loggers and a group of Orang Asli that occurred on Wednesday was due to the integrated operation carried out by PPK, together with the Kelantan Forestry Department, the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

"The presence of all of the agencies was actually to hold a discussion after the Orang Asli group had built a blockade to prevent the logs from being taken out of the forest area," he told reporters today.

The Orang Asli group was reported to have made a blockade to halt the production of timber and the action by loggers who managed to break through the barricade and dismantled it, which had caused the commotion.

The Orang Asli residents claimed that the tract of land between Pos Tohoi and Pos Simpor, Gua Musang was their ancestral land while the loggers claimed they have been given the licence to carry out the logging activities there.

Lim said in the operation which started at 2.30pm, they had tried to negotiate with the Orang Asli group but to no avail.

"MACC, the police and the Kelantan Forestry Department have also given them (the Orang Asli group) explanations but the negotiation still failed to reach an agreement before the decision to demolish the illegally built barricade was made," he said.

Lim also claimed that the blockade issue had been going on for six months resulting in the logging companies not able to transport the logs out of the forest area.

"Before this, we managed to negotiate but for this time around it (the negotiation) had failed as we believe that there may have been a mastermind behind the Orang Asli's action," he said, adding that PPK had also lodged a police report regarding the matter.

- Bernama

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