A Federal Court judge today recused himself from hearing the government's application for leave to appeal against a landmark judgment recognising Orang Asli native land rights under common law, causing the 10-year old case to be postponed.

Justice Richard Malanjum said he could not hear the case between seven members of the Temuan Orang Asli tribe and the Malaysian Government, Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) and construction giant United Engineers Malaysia Bhd (UEM) as he had ruled on similar issues in another case in the Court of Appeal last year.

He was referring to the case of Borneo Pulp Plantation vs Nor Nyawai & two ors in which the court recognised the native customary rights to land. The case is pending appeal in the Federal Court.

"I am quite uncomfortable hearing the case. You (the counsel) will be submitting to a person who had made up his mind on the issues that will be raised on this matter. I have to recuse myself," the judge who was scheduled to hear the case with Chief Judge of Malaya Abdul Malek Ahmad and Federal Court judge Alauddin Mohd Sherif.

Although both parties did not object to his presence on the three-member panel, Justice Richard was adamant that he could not hear the case. This forced the court to adjourn the matter to another date for another panel to be formed.

Counsel for the Temuan, Dr Cyrus V Das, appealed for an early hearing date, stating that this was a long-standing case and that some of those waiting for a final outcome are very old.

"These are poor people. Some of them are aged. We hope for an early date so that the matter can be finalised as soon as possible so that they can see the fruit of their labour in the event of victory," he said.

Justice Abdul Malek assured him that an early date would be arranged.

Hopes dashed

Centre for Orang Asli co-ordinator Dr Colin Nicholas, who was at the court, said news of the postponement would disappoint the Temuan.

"They had hoped that the matter would go on and be decided today. They had hoped to celebrate today," he said outside the court.

On Sept 19 last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the Shah Alam High Court's ruling for the government, MHA and UEM to compensate Sagong Tasi and six others from the Temuan tribe under the Land Acquisition Act 1960, for the loss of their 38-acre customary land in Bukit Tampoi.

The court also held that the high court was right to have ordered UEM and MHA to pay damages for trespassing on the ancestral land to build a highway to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Additionally, it ordered UEM and MHA to pay exemplary and special damages for the harsh treatment of the Orang Asli when being evicted from their land.

The seven Temuan tribes are also to receive compensation for both the gazetted and non-gazetted land that was taken from them, compared to the previous judgment which allowed compensation for only areas gazetted as 'aboriginal reserves'.

Prior to the case, native customary and ancestral rights were deemed unequivalent to propriety rights under common law.