The Malaysian Insight

NOT all durian harvests are sweet. For the Orang Asli of Gua Musang in Kaleeg, a particular durian plantation is producing bitter, painful fruit. 

For five months, about 200 Orang Asli from six kampung have tried to stop a 400ha plantation from trespassing on their tribal land. 

The Orang Asli have been threatened and intimidated while maintaining a blockade of a road leading to the plantation. 

These activists have lived around and guarded the blockade 24 hours a day and seven days a week to prevent workers and heavy machinery from entering the plantation. 

The more the plantation grows, they said, the more of their communal jungle is cut down and destroyed.  

In the “old Malaysia” before the 14th general election, they were arrested and jailed. Neither the federal nor the state government listened to their pleas. 

But in the “new Malaysia”, they received a visit from a federal deputy minister who promised to help them negotiate with the Kelantan government for their land rights. 

In a clear departure from the past, Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Sivarasa Rasiah even supported their right to continue their blockade to protect their land. – August 3, 2018.