The proposed dialogue between Gua Musang Orang Asli and the Kelantan and federal governments on how to resolve concerns over deforestation should be open to all Temiar people, a community activist says.

Nasir Nash claimed this is because village chiefs and the villages' committees do not understand the situation on the ground.

"This dialogue is not comprehensive as it does not involve Orang Asli NGOs, activists, and independent bodies.

"They (the government) only invited the village chiefs and village committee members, who don't know the problems of the Orang Asli grassroots," Nasir told Malaysiakini.

He was responding to a proposal by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar for a dialogue among all parties, following blockades set up by Orang Asli to deter loggers and plantations from the virgin forests.

Logging and deforestation in Gua Musang are long-standing issues which the local Orang Asli have been fighting against for years.

The Temiar claim that logging and the opening of plantations in the interiors of Gua Musang had encroached on their ancestral lands, as well as harmed the environment.

"The forest is our city. If it is destroyed, so too are the interests of the Orang Asli," Nash said.

A magistrate court had in January last year ruled that a logging company could not enter a disputed area near the Orang Asli village of Pos Balar.

However, loggers have been accused of skirting this ruling by felling trees in other areas of the Gua Musang interiors.