300 Orang Asli March Against the Degazetting of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve

Our forests are our national treasures and over the years, greedy and selfish people have tried to take the forests for their own gain. Some of them succeeded while some of them failed. From the year 1990 to 2010, we have lost about 8.6% of our forests – which amounts to 1,920,000 hectares.

Recently, there has been talk that the Selangor government wants to abolish the status of the Kuala Langat North Forest as a forest reserve.

Dr. A Xavier Jayakumar, the ex-minister of Water, Land and Natural Resources has spoken up before about this issue and have said that it is against the Federal Government’s wish to protect and maintain the forest reserves. PEKA Malaysia (an NGO) chimed in as well, and said that that particular part of the forest is especially rich in unique biodiversity – including pygmy squirrels that are exclusive to that area.

Excluding all of that, the forest has been home to the Orang Asli ever since time immemorial. Because of that, about 300 of them came out of their villages yesterday (25th February) so that they could march to the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah building to send a memorandum of rejection to the state government.

Orang Asli pelbagai suku berarak ke Pejabat MB Selangor di Shah Alam membantah rancangan kerajaan negeri Selangor yang mahu menghentikan pewartaan terhadap hutan simpan Kuala Langat (Utara).

Baca selanjutnya: https://t.co/AnoIlDVR9c pic.twitter.com/cPaga7zCt4

— TheMalaysianInsight (@msianinsight) February 26, 2020

The memorandum of rejection was sent by 6 village chiefs and 3 NGOs and it was received by the Secretary of the state government Mr Borhan Aman Shah.

One of the village chiefs told Sinar Harian this:

“We have been living here since 1845 and by degazetting the forest reserve, the Orang Asli will be destroyed.”

Mr. Borhan then said that the memorandum will be submitted to be discussed in future meetings.

So, what do you think about this issue? Tell us in the comments below!

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