PerakSpeak.com

 

The Editor

Malaysiakini.com

 

Dear Steven and Aidila,

 

 

Thank you for your very good coverage of the Orang Asli protest at Putrajaya on Wednesday.

 

However, I only realised after some emails from friends that I had been incorrectly identified as the protest coordinator, let alone as an indigenous rights activist. I do not claim to be the latter, and certainly was not the protest coordinator. My designation, whenever asked by any person for any purpose or activity, has always been as coordinator of the Center for Orang Asli Concerns.

A new land policy purported to be a boon for the 150,000-strong Orang Asli community has all but been received as good news, given the many questions surrounding the announcement, said activists.

Unless further details are forthcoming from the government, the policy announced by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin last December may even undermine the rights and interests of the Orang Asli, they alleged.

On Dec 4 last year, Muhyiddin announced that some 20,000 Orang Asli families will be given by state governments freehold land titles for residential use and for oil palm, rubber and other crop cultivation under an agreement between the government and developers.

The number made up 72 per cent of the total of 27,841 Orang Asli families and involve 50,563.51 hectares of land in Peninsular Malaysia, said Muhyiddin according to reports.