In an impassioned plea, the son of a former tok batin of the Temuan tribe of Kuala Langat urges his brethren to unite and defend their land which has been encroached upon.

He also laments that their land is being ripped from their very grasps by supposed blood brothers, the Malays, with whom the Temuan and their Sakai ancestors share a common origin.

Dewi Malam said that defending the land of the Orang Asli is the same as defending the land of the Malays as the natives are the “original Malays”, in the country.

“If my ancestor is a Sakai, I am Sakai. Sakai are the original people, the originator of the Malays. We are the real Malays, the true Malays.

“Malaysians do not understand, the Sakai were the first. The Sakai were the Malays. But if our lands are all taken, it is the Malays that will lose all,” he said.

“The Orang Asli are poor because they were sidelined, but the ones sidelining them are the Malays themselves.

“The youths must understand, if the Malays sideline the Orang Asli, they are sidelining their own race, their own origins,” said Dewi with emotion.

He was speaking at a press conference organised by Solidarit Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) at the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall yesterday.

Land taken away

Dewi Malam is one of the 4,000 residents of Mukim Tanung Dua Belas in Kuala Langat whose lands were allegedly taken away without their consent, some of it even being developed by the Selangor government.

Dewi, his brother Jafrin Malam and their father Malam Gerchang recently lost their case at the appellate court in Putrajaya after the court decided that they had no locus standi to represent the Temuan community in Tanjung Dua Belas.

However, even after three weeks after the decision, Dewi is still hoping that the 17,900-acre native land will be protected as native reserve land and handed back into their hands.

“The court was sympathetic but cannot do anything,” said Dewi.

The two brothers and their father were present at the press conference together with their lawyer Serene Tan Pei Shan, activist Raymond Tan and SAMM founder Badrul Hisham Shaharin.

The Court of Appeal on Sep 27 ruled that Malam, who was the former tok batin to the Temuan, and his two sons do not have the locus standi to sue the Selangor government and four other parties for a declaration to recover native lands.

Civil suit thrown out

As reported by MStar, the decision by the three-member bench led by Justice Mohd Zawawi Salleh led to the civil suit filed by the trio to be thrown out.

The judge noted that while the court symphatises with the three Orang Asli, the court cannot rule in their favour based on the facts and testimonies of the case.

The plaintiffs also named the Kuala Langat District Office, the Land Office, Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd, the Selangor land and minerals director and the local authorities as respondents in the case.

Speaking further, Dewi cited his lineage, his family having resided in the area for seven generations, to argue that he indeed does have locus standi to speak and act on behalf of the Temuan for the sake of their ancestral land.

“My family has been here for seven generations, my ancestor was Mohamad, Pak Pelangi my great-grandfather, Gercang my grandfather, Malam is my father, I am Dewi and I have a son.

“And now I have a grandson. Which means that we have been residing here for seven generations,” he said.

Dewi said that not only the Orang Asli’s lives will be affected by the encroachment into the native lands, but also the Northern Kuala Langat Forest Reserve involving Pulau Kempas, Bukit Cheeding, Bukit Kecil, Bukit Perah, Tanjung Rabok and Bukit Kamandol.