Two Orang Asli 'tok batin' (village headmen) in Johor were sacked by the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jakoa) in March for allegedly "fighting the government".

Ledang Orang Asli Action Committee deputy secretary Mohd Norazmin Abdul Aziz told Malaysiakini that he was relayed this information during a meeting with Jakoa director-general Mohd Jamalludin Kasbi, pertaining to the sacking of Kampung Air Tawas tok batin Mengek bin Acai and Kampung Tanah Gembur tok batin Jengkeng bin Jani.

"When we met with Jamaluddin to hand him our memorandum, we were told that the two headmen were sacked because they did not attend government events and were 'fighting' the government," he said.

He was referring to Mengek and Jenkeng filing a case against the national parks governing body of Johor, PTNJ, for fencing up Orang Asli ancestral and ceremonial land, back in January this year. 

Mohd Norazmin however noted that PTNJ was ordered to stop all fencing works in April after the matter was taken to court, and reported to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam). 

"This shows the government is on our side, the headmen were not fighting the government," he said. 

In a previous statement to Malaysiakini, the committee had alleged that the pair's sacking was not valid because the headmen had been elected through Orang Asli selection customs.

“The sacking of the tok batin can only be carried out by the minister under Act 134 (Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954) section 16,” the committee said, citing Section 16 (2) of the act which states that only “the minister may remove any headman from his office”.

The minister in the case is Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, whose ministry Jakoa falls under. 

At the memorandum handover on Tuesday this week, Mohd Norazmin, who is also the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) Orang Asli representative in Johor, brought along more than 50 villagers to demonstrate in front of the Jakoa office in Kuala Lumpur.

The five demands listed in the memorandum were: 

  • Jakoa should retract the termination letters sent to the headmen;
     
  • Jakoa should pay Mengek and Jengkeng their allowances as per usual;
     
  • Jakoa should apologise to both the tok batin and villagers;
     
  • Jakoa should stop interfering in the customs and culture of the Orang Asli; and
     
  • Jakoa should reply their memorandum with a letter.

On the demands, Jakoa has agreed to continue paying the pair their monthly allowance of RM900, until they come to a decision on whether to reinstate them as headmen, Mohd Norazmin said. 

“They told us they will need one year to reply to our memorandum,” he said, adding that the standard government procedure for replying to a memorandum was two weeks.

Attempts to contact Jakoa were futile.