Five Orang Asli kids perish, two survive - govt agrees to pay RM1.4m

Fearing punishment from their teacher for bathing in a nearby river without permission, seven Orang Asli children fled from their remote boarding school in Kelantan in August 2015.

Only two, Norieen Yaakob, then 11, and Miksudiar Aluj, then 12, were found alive, albeit weak and malnourished, on the riverbank of Sungai Perias following a search and rescue operation, which lasted close to 50 days.

In 2018, the families filed negligence suits against the government. The case has now been settled with an agreement of RM1.41 million.

Lawyer Siti Kasim, who was supposed to be the first witness, said the families’ lawyers and government representatives came to an agreement outside of court just before the case was heard.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, she said: “I think that is as far as we can push (the settlement amount). You would be surprised, before this they offered a measly amount which is an insult to the families. That is why we proceeded to trial.

“If you read the opening statement of Gurdial Singh (who represented two of the children) which I uploaded on Facebook, you can see the gravity of the situation.

“It shows that the amount, although could have been better, we accepted instead of prolonging the case for many more years, so it is better to just meet halfway and get it done and over with,” she added.

On her Facebook page, Siti said she uploaded the statement because it was never read in court since the case had been settled before the trial commenced.

Closure for families

Earlier, The Star reported Siti as stating that the settlement included RM60,000 in legal costs as well as another RM160,000 from insurance companies.

"We have spent much time and money to get to this point, but I am thankful to the team of lawyers and experts that have finally helped the families find some closure.

"The incident has been extremely traumatising for both the surviving students and families involved as the thought of losing one's child after entrusting them to a boarding school must have been extremely painful," she told the publication.

Last week, Malaysiakini reported that the government contended that the actions of the seven Orang Asli children who went missing from the boarding school in Pos Tohoi, Gua Musang, had led to their deaths and injuries.

In a summary of the statement of defence against the six negligence suits, the federal government and eight other defendants argued that the incident and its fallout were fully or partly caused by the negligent acts of the students.

In their filing, the defendants cited the legal maxim of “volenti non fit injuria” whereby the seven children had intentionally and negligently put themselves in a situation that posed a danger.

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