Kelantan forestry director defends state gov't

File photo of orang asli at the blockade in Kelantan

KOTA BARU: After much flak from social media users and orang asli sympathisers, the Kelantan Forestry Department director has come to the defence of the state government, saying that the mentri besar has approved more than 900ha of land for the indigenous people.

Zahari Ibrahim, in a lengthy press statement posted on a WhatsApp group with the Kelantan media, defended the move by his enforcement team to bring down 35 bamboo huts and three blockades built by the orang asli from the Temiar tribe in Gua Musang since late September.