Orang Asli villagers in Pos Piah, near Sungai Siput, Perak, are ready to set up anti-logging blockades if the state government and the Forestry Department do not grant them a meeting to discuss the matter soon.

Yesterday, representatives from the group assembled to submit a letter to the Kuala Kangsar Forestry Department office, seeking the meeting in an attempt to bring about a peaceful solution to the already escalating issue.

This comes after the Orang Asli community in Gua Musang faced encroachment by loggers, despite a court order barring logging in the vicinity of the villages.

Pos Piah is located in the Piah forest reserve, but it is not clear whether logging was allowed there. 

This is one such issue that the group intends to clarify during the meeting.

Shazni Bhai, the special officer to Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, said the MP's office received the complaints from the Orang Asli party last week.

"As logging in the area has been going on for a few months now, they wanted us to (intervene) and help (facilitate) a meeting with the Forestry Department and the Perak state government.

"Although, from what I hear from them (the Orang Asli representatives), logging has been going in the area since the 1970s.

"The Orang Asli are worried as roadworks for the logging project are going on just one kilometre away and will affect their livelihood," Shazni said when contacted by Malaysiakini.

The community supports itself from proceeds from the sale of medicinal herbs and fruits gathered in the forest.

They also fear that logging would contaminate their water source.

About 20 villagers from Pos Piah and nearby Kampung Kembok previously met with a logging company that had wanted to log their tanah rayauan (roaming land) and took the matter up with the authorities shortly thereafter.

In a separate statement, Shazni said the logging project does not follow principles founded upon declarations supported by the government, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This prompted him and the Orang Asli group to submit a letter to the Kuala Kangsar Forestry Department last month.