(YB A. Sivanesan picture left) The Perak State Exco’s Chairman of Health, Environment and Human Resources Committee, YB A. Sivanesan came down hard on contractors involved in logging activities in the proposed logging area in the vicinity of Kampung Ulu Kampar, Kampung Ulu Geroh and Kampung Serkal some 40km off the small and sleepy Gopeng town following numerous complaints from the Orang Asli community living there.
“I shall impose an immediate stop-work order pending further investigation”uttered an equally upset YB Sivanesan on seeing for himself the shocking selfish destruction of a once peaceful forest reserve.
(Mr. M. Gokoolaram Naidu picture left)Prior to all this Augustine Anthony Head of The Orang Asli Affairs, Bar Council Human Rights Committee and I had made several visits to these villages and even highlighted the Orang Asli plight in the media. Complaints and memorandums were submitted to the Menteri Besar. It took almost six months for the authorities to take notice of the villagers problems due to the understandable transitional period by the new state Government. In the lacuna, severe environmental damage already taken place by heavy machineries.
Among those in the entourage were Gopeng Assemblyman YB Chang Lih Kang, officials from Forestry Department and Department of Environment, TV3 crew headed by Miss Pushpawati Ramaloo and Star reporter Miss Clara who documented the entire episode.
Everyone had a first-hand look of the damage caused and its impact on the livelihood of the Orang Asli community living there. In a matter of weeks the tributaries will be choked by debris and erosion.
Eventually the Orang Asli community will be the ones who will take the toll by drinking polluted water and facing health problems, but does anyone care? No wonder this time around the Orang Asli folks became aggressive and agitated !
Our first stop-over was at Kampung Ulu Kampar. This area is partly a forest reserve and YB Sivanesan began questioning how the previous Government could have issued logging permits in the first place without conducting environmental impact assessment on the Orang Asli community. He has thus initiated an investigation into this.
The next stop-over was Kampung Ulu Geroh. This is where YB Sivanesan had to endure with his own eyes how the removal of pipelines had damaged almost the entire path leading to this once beautiful village.
The children and adults had to endure seven months of walking in deep mud to go to school or to town for the matter. When YB Sivanesan queried the Tok Batin on the impact of logging activities to his village, the once coy Tok Batin burst out saying their fruit tress will be felled when logging activities begins as the caterpillar plant bulldozes its way through.
Another lady lashed out that their only source of drinking-water will be at risk, while an equally agitated youth waved his blow-pipe and swore he will resort to violence if the loggers came in (although he may have said it in jest, as he was very emotional when he said that).
“We have waited for 51 years and we are still being victimized,” said Tijah Yok Chopil, an equally depressed Orang Asli activitist and Secretary of Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Perak. “The authorities do not care for us and we are treated like animals or even worse as the latter has some sort of protection”, she added. Their jeering remarks seem to be the culmination of years of frustration.
At this point, YB Sivanesan requested them to calm down and promised them that a stop-work order will be declared to iron out the problem. He reiterated that he is equally shocked at what the previous State Government had done.
(Bah Azmi, Chairman Jaringan Kg. Orang Asli Perak -Right) The Orang Asli claim that the whole project is detrimental to the environment and they are urging the Government of the day to reconsider any move to log or develop their ancestral land and swiftly take measures to protect the water catchments as well as the surrounding bio-diversity.
Written by
M. Gokoolaram Naidu
ExecutivePerak Legal Aid Centre and Human Rights Committee