Malaysian Bar: Perak wrong to say Orang Asli have no customary rights

Perak MB Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu briefing to the medias on his first year anniversary of Pakatan government reigns in Perak.RONNIE CHIN/The Star.

PETALING JAYA: The Perak government is legally wrong when it claimed that Orang Asli in the state have no customary or ancestral land rights, says Malaysian Bar president Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor.

"In this regard, the Mentri Besar's (Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu) contention that the Perak constitution and written law must expressly sanction Orang Asli customary or ancestral land before they are legally recognised, is legally erroneous, " he said in a media statement issued on Wednesday (July 31).

Abdul Fareed noted that the Federal Court and Court of Appeal have repeatedly recognised the customary and ancestral land rights of the Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia.

"For more than 20 years, the Federal Court and Court of Appeal have repeatedly recognised the continuity of the Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli's right to lands and resources that the Orang Asli have held based on their own customs, usages and laws, " he said.

He said the state government should exercise due care and diligence when making public statements on the extent of the legal rights afforded to the Orang Asli.

Abdul Fareed also reiterated the Malaysian Bar's call for a moratorium against activities on land occupied by the Orang Asli in Perak.

This, he added, included legislative measures to achieve the spirit and intent of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

On Tuesday (July 30), DAP national legal bureau chairman Ramkarpal Singh said that Ahmad Faizal's recent statement on customary land rights of the Orang Asli in Perak was wrong.

On Monday (July 29), Ahmad Faizal said that there is no such thing as Orang Asli ancestral land (tanah adat) in the state.

He said the term was not recognised in the state constitution and it would be worrisome if all races started to make such claims.

He was commenting on the standoff between loggers and Orang Asli, who claimed to be defending their ancestral land in Kampung Sungai Papan.