Pahang Orang Asli's customary land suit against govt goes to trial

The Kuantan High Court in Pahang this week began hearing a civil suit brought by a group of Orang Asli who live in and around the Bukit Ibam forest reserve in Rompin.

They are accusing an oil palm plantation company of encroaching on their customary land.

Lawyer Surendra Ananth said four witnesses have been called to testify before High Court judge Mohd Radzi Harun in the trial from Monday to Wednesday.

According to the lawyer and court documents, the civil suit was brought by a group of seven Orang Asli of Temoq sub-ethnicity against YP Olio Sdn Bhd, which they said had breached their cultural land area when doing land clearing activities that started in 2019.

The seven plaintiffs are Omar Rani, Rani Jinal, Rosman, Rani, Lina Lehoi, Suhami Suhin, Maarof Abdullah, and Sani Kotiz, who hail from the Berengoi-Mesau village.

READ MORE: Timber grab: The truth behind Pahang oil palm plantations

They also named the Pahang government, the federal government, the Environmental Department, the Orang Asli Development Department, and six others as defendants.

Mounting the challenge on behalf of themselves and other villagers in the area, the seven are seeking reliefs that include a declaration that the Temoq villagers hold customary land rights over the area, a declaration that the relevant defendants have a legal duty to protect the customary land as an aboriginal reserve and that the defendants have no right to transfer any interest in the customary land to other parties.

“My clients are also seeking the court to declare that a lease given by the state government to the company is null and void,” Surendra told Malaysiakini.

Elaborating on the case background, he said the Temoq Orang Asli claimed an area of 16,000 acres (about 6,474ha) inside the Bukit Ibam forest as their customary land.

However, in 2019, the community found out that YP Olio had started land-clearing activities in the forest including within their customary land.

The Orang Asli then filed several objections to the governments but to no avail, which led them to file the civil suit in 2022.

Surendra said the group had also filed for a judicial review against a decision by the government to approve the company’s environmental impact assessment for a palm oil plantation project in the disputed area.

On the ongoing trial, the lawyer said the trial is set to continue for four more days in February next year.

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