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Extracted
from The Sun
Hopes Revived For Orang Asli
PUTRAJAYA
(April 14, 2008): A directive from Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid
Ibrahim to the state legal adviser to review its stand on the land rights of
the Orang Asli has given the indigenous people a new ray of hope.
Datin Paduka
Zauyah Loth Khan, in seeking a postponement in the Federal Court here
yesterday, told the three-member panel of judges, the instruction from the
Selangor state government came late yesterday.
"The state
government needs some time to study the matter," said Zauyah to the panel
which was headed by Chief Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamad and assisted by
Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Alauddin Mohd Sheriff and Datuk Zulkifli Ahmad
Makinuddin.
Senior federal
counsel Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, who represented the government, requested
that the appeal be heard at the earliest possible date, after a two-week
adjournment.
Lawyers
representing the Orang Asli, Datuk Dr V.Cyrus Das and his team and Lembaga
Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) and United Engineers (M) Bhd did not object to the
postponement request.
Abdul Hamid
then said the panel decided to postpone the case to a date to be fixed.
Outside the
courtroom, more than 50 Orang Asli men and women appeared cheerful with the
sudden twist of events.
Zauyah declined
to elaborate on the latest move by the state government except that the
instructions came from Khalid at
Das, meanwhile,
said the postponement is an indication the state government wishes to review
the case.
"We look
forward to a more favourable review of the land rights of the Orang Asli,"
he added.
Newly elected
state executive councilor, Elizabeth Wong, who is in-charge of the Environment,
Tourism and Comsumer Affairs portfolio, said Khalid had proposed the Orang Asli
deserved a fair compensation.
"He has
indicated that the Orang Asli should be treated like any other citizen,"
said Wong.
She said Khalid
has also instructed a meeting be organised with the Orang Asli in the state to
look at long lasting and comprehensive solution to their problems.
"We are
not committing to anything, but to say that it is important to listen to their
grouses," said Wong.
She added the
Orang Asli in Selangor remain marginalised and it is the state government’s
position that no one should be left behind in development.
She spoke to
reporters after attending the appeal hearing of the case in the
Sagong Tasi and
six other Orang Asli had sued the Selangor state government, the Malaysian
government, UEM and LLM.
The seven
plaintiffs belong to the Temuan tribe. The first defendant, the Selangor state
government, evicted them and their families from their land in Kampung Bukit
Tampoi in Dengkil.
The second
defendant, UEM is the contractor building the highway. The third defendant, LLM
is the Malaysian Highway Authority, while the fourth is the Federal Government.
The Sepang
District Office executed the land acquisition exercise.
The plaintiffs
claimed adequate compensation on the basis that the land they had been occupying
for the last two centuries was customary land.
They also
claimed damages for illegal eviction from the first defendant, damages for
trespass from the second and third defendants and special damages.
The defendants
refused to pay, apart from a small amount for damage caused to the plaintiffs’
houses and crops on the grounds that the land was, in fact, state land.
In the Court of
Appeal, the appellants submitted that the respondents had been over-compensated
by the Shah Alam High Court.
They further argued
the respondents were only entitled to compensation provided under the 1954 Act,
and not under the Land Acquisition Act 1960.
The Orang Asli,
meanwhile, argued they were treated shabbily when evicted from their land. They
were only given 14 days to vacate the land that they had been occupying for
more than 200 years.
The Court of
Appeal, on
The appellate
court affirmed the High Court decision that the Orang Asli of the Temuan tribe
owned the land under a customary community title of a permanent nature.
Since their
constitutional rights had been violated, the court ordered that the Orang Asli
be paid the market value as prescribed under the Land Acquisition Act 1960.
The court also
ruled that it was wrong for the Selangor government to pay compensation for the
loss of livelihood and damage to property when the land was taken to construct
the Kuala Lumpur-Nilai highway.
The Court of
Appeal also ordered UEM and LLM to pay damages to the Orang Asli for
trespassing on the land.
The case was
monitored closely, especially by the federal and state governments, in relation
to their jurisdiction under the Federal Constitution, Aboriginies Peoples Act
1954 and other subsidiary laws.
On