PETALING JAYA: Police and Forestry Department officers have moved into the blockade area set up by the orang asli protesting against logging activities in Gua Musang.
The blockade was erected and managed by about 200 orang asli from the Temiar group last month.
It is learnt that the blockade may be torn down today by the authorities which have given the orang asli till today to dismantle the blockade.
According to lawyer and activist Siti Kasim, the officers arrived at the site at about 10.30am Tuesday.
She said no one was allowed into the blockade area. Lawyers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the media have also been barred from entering the site.
“As you can see from my updates, there are many vehicles from the Forestry Department as well as the police and General Operations Force (GOF) personnel.
"They have now reached Simpang Petir, where the first blockade is,” Siti Kasim told The Star Online on Tuesday.
Orang Asli activist Yusri Jahut said the orang asli, who had camped at the blockades, would not take a violent stance against the authorities.
"We started the blockade peacefully and we intend to end it peacefully.
"We will not fight the authorities but will reason with them on our real intention to stop logs from going out of the forest reserve," Yusri said when contacted on Tuesday.
Siti Kasim said she could not be at Gua Musang but was getting updates from the orang asli there.
She said the Forestry Department came in 27 vehicles and the police had six at the location.
She pointed out that two of the vehicles are empty, and it could mean that the vehicles would be used to transport the orang asli who would be arrested.
“According to the National Forestry Act 1984, they do not have the powers to arrest the orang asli.
"Even the police cannot unless the orang asli fail to produce identification.
"Their powers to arrest under the Act is very limited and they can only arrest if the orang asli refuse to show their identification,” she explained.
She said the orang asli will take action under the Act if they are arrested.
There are currently three blockades - at Simpang Petir, Pos Pasik and Pos Bihai.
“The blockade in Simpang Petir is in the Balah Forest Reserve. I think they are attacking the Simpang Petir blockade because there are many logs lying there for two months or so.
"They really want the logs to come out. In Pos Bihai, they are not so concerned because logging activities have not yet started there,” she said.
The Kelantan government under PAS is adamant that the orang asli community dismantle their blockade or face the consequences.
Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob said the blockade was illegal and the community was hampering development.
More than 200 orang asli had built barricades between Pos Tohoi and Pos Gob in late September to prevent logs from leaving two areas in the Balah permanent forest reserve, covering 239ha and 404ha respectively, that had been approved for logging.
The state Forestry Department issued a stop-work order in October to reduce tensions between the loggers and orang asli.
The notice dated Nov 6 gave the activists two weeks to take down the blockade. It was extended to today.
The notice warned that action could be taken against them under Section 32 of the National Forestry Act 1984 (Amendment 1993), which stipulates a jail term of up to five years, a fine of up to RM5,000 or both upon conviction.
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