Land dispute involving Seletar Orang Asli in Johor resolved

PUTRAJAYA - A 10-year legal battle over ancestral land was resolved today with the 85 Orang Asli families from the Seletar tribe agreeing to be relocated to a new resettlement area to be gazetted as an Orang Asli reserve.

This followed an out-of-court settlement among the parties involved with the consent order recorded before Court of Appeal three-member panel comprising Justices Datuk Yaacob Md Sam, Datuk S. Nantha Balan and Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

Lawyer Khoo Guan Huat, representing the Johor government and the State Land and Mines director, told the court today that parties in the suit had agreed to the consent order.

Following that, Justice Yaacob, who chaired the panel, struck out the appeals by the Johor government, the Johor Land and Mines director and eight others, including developers,, as well as a cross-appeal by the Orang Asli.

Based on the consent order, the Orang Asli families from Kampung Sungai Temon, commonly known as the Orang Laut, would be resettled at a 45 acre-site in Mukim Sungai Tiram, Johor Baru, Johor.

It would involve the setting up of a village with basic facilities and infrastructure, such as water and electricity supply and street lights.

It was also agreed that the affected Orang Asli families would be allowed to stay in Kampung Sungai Temon until the completion of the construction of the new resettlement area, expected to take five years and would be carried out by Node Dua Sdn Bhd.

As part of the consent order, the 85 Orang Asli families would each also receive RM5,000 in compensation and RM1,500 for the purchase of furniture.

Also stated in the consent order was the payment of RM6,500 in compensation per household for 50 families from Kampung Bakar Batu.

In 2012, the Orang Asli from Kampung Sungai Temon Kampung Bakar Batu, led by one Eddy Salim filed a suit against 11 defendants including the Johor state Land and Mines director, the Johor state government, Director-General of the Orang Asli Development Department (JAKOA), federal government and developers and individual owners for encroaching into their land.

The land in dispute is in the Danga Bay region of the Iskandar Development Corridor in Johor.

On Feb 28, 2017, the High Court in Johor Bahru ruled that the Orang Asli had customary rights over the territories and were entitled to compensation for the deprivation of their customary territories.

It also ruled that the federal and state government had breached their fiduciary duties for failing to gazette and protect the customary territories from being alienated to third parties.

Although the High Court had ruled in favour of the Orang Asli, they, however, decided to appeal to the Court of Appeal in a bid to regain their land ownership rights instead of receiving compensation.

A team of lawyers led by Steven Thiru represented the Orang Asli.

Federal counsel Safiyyah Omar appeared for JAKOA and the federal government. - BERNAMA