Expert: Govt’s suit will help clarify the law

Keeping it clean: An orang asli man picking up trash from a river in Bertam Valley.

KUALA LUMPUR: The federal government’s move to haul Kelantan to court in defence of orang asli land rights may see the extent of the boundary between federal and state powers being contested, according to an expert on public law.

Lawyer Philip Koh said this would involve a “judicial construction” or interpretation between the scope of the federal list, which demarcates federal powers, and the state list which provides for state powers.