Malaysia: Temiar Blockade and Indigenous Rights

29.1.12

Eight Temi­ar indige­nous peo­ple (also known as Orang Asli) in Malaysia were arrest­ed by the police for attempt­ing to set up a block­ade and pre­vent log­gers from enter­ing their vil­lage in Gua Musang, Kelan­tan.

29.1.12

Eight Temi­ar indige­nous peo­ple (also known as Orang Asli) in Malaysia were arrest­ed by the police for attempt­ing to set up a block­ade and pre­vent log­gers from enter­ing their vil­lage in Gua Musang, Kelan­tan.

The vil­lagers are against the agri­cul­tur­al project of the local gov­ern­ment which would require the cut­ting down of for­est trees in their ances­tral land. The block­ade, their sec­ond attempt at doing so, was made after attempts to nego­ti­ate with the state gov­ern­ment have failed.

The police also refused to nego­ti­ate who removed the bar­ri­cades and arrest­ed the com­mu­ni­ty res­i­dents and their lawyer, Siti Kasim. They were released lat­er that night.

More info and here