CAMERON HIGHLANDS: The move by the federal government to sue the Kelantan state government over the rights of the orang asli is not a wise decision and will open up the floodgates for similar instances in the future, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pic).
The Umno vice-president said that any state government that has issues with the federal government could also do the same.
The federal government had on Friday (Jan 18) filed a civil suit against the Kelantan state government to seek the legal recognition of the native land rights of the Temiar orang asli in Pos Simpor.
"This not supposed to happen. It's not a wise move.
"There needs to be ethics and understanding between the federal and state governments," he told reporters after a walkabout at the Brinchang morning market here on Sunday (Jan 20).
"For instance, like it or not, the federal government needs to allocate budget for every state, even if they are from the opposition.
"Which is also why we have meetings between the Prime Minister and the respective Mentris Besar and Chief Ministers," he added.
Ismail Sabri said he believes the suit was related to politics and the upcoming by-election here.
"They (the federal government) wants to show that they also look after the orang asli and to get their support.
"They want to focus on the orang asli community, which constitutes about 22% of the voters here," said the Bera MP, adding that the community was also staunch supporters of Barisan Nasional.
The former Rural and Regional Development minister said that the former Barisan government had planned a lot of development projects for the orang asli.
"But these are being cancelled by the current government.
"We had approved a RM15mil project to build a road at Pos Lejang and a RM180mil one-stop centre in Gua Musang, but these were recently cancelled.
"They often say we don't care for the orang asli, but in fact, they are the ones," he added.
The Cameron Highlands by-election will see a four-cornered fight between Pakatan Harapan's M. Manogaran, Barisan's Ramli Mohd Nor and two independents, Wong Seng Yee and Sallehudin Ab Talib.
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