Tag Archives: Orang Asli

In-Depth

Can Malaysia expand its busiest port without displacing a cultural icon?

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Malaysia is going full speed ahead with the proposed Carey Island port, suggesting work could start by September. But the island’s Indigenous Mah Meri still do not know how their villages and the mangrove forests which support their world-renowned culture — will be impacted. Story co-published with Eco-Business.

THE EVE of the Hari Moyang festival (Ancestor’s Day) is traditionally a family affair in Kampung Sungai Kurau, a village on the edge of Selangor’s Carey Island.

As twilight falls on 18 March, adults and children of the Indigenous Mah Meri community gather around hand-built wooden shrines in their gardens. They have spent hours weaving nipah palm leaves and gathering fresh flowers to decorate the shrines, no two of which are the same.

(Feature image: Using mangroves bounty, the Mah Meri community worship ancestral spirits on Hari Moyang in sanggar (shrines), both in the sea, with Westport visible, and within mangrove forests.   |  Image by Samantha Ho

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In-Depth

Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 3: For Wood, Water, and Wildlife

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Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 3: For Wood, Water, and Wildlife

Despite foresters and planters promising tight regulations in Perak, locals are protesting one of the biggest forest plantations in the state over fears of water security and wildlife attacks.

Writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong

Published: 11 July 2024

Part 1 | Part 2

(Omar Pandak (right) telling fellow villagers of Kampung Bukit Chermin about the forest plantations coming to Kledang Saiong forest reserve in Perak. | Pic by YH Law)

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In-Depth

Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 2: Faster Replanting Needed

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Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 2: Faster Replanting Needed

By 2021, at least half of forest reserve sites cleared for forest plantations in Peninsular Malaysia were not replanted. Since then, Kelantan has sped up its replanting, but Pahang remains a laggard.

Writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong

Published: 10 July 2024

Part 1 | Part 3

(Batai saplings dot a site in the Krau forest reserve that was cleared for a forest plantation. | Pic by YH Law)

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In-Depth

Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 1: Take A Break

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Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 1: Taking a Break

Forest plantations caused so much concern that the Malaysian National Land Council called for a pause on new projects in the peninsula. But 2.5 years into the moratorium, it is not appearing to work.

Writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong

Published: 9 July 2024

Part 2  | Part 3

(Planters are clearing sites in the Krau forest reserve for forest plantations. | Pic by YH Law)

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In-Depth

Empangan di Negeri Perak Ancam Keramat Batu dan Perkuburan Moyang

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Beberapa siri empangan kecil berikutan peralihan hijau negeri Perak cetuskan bantahan komuniti Orang Asli. Diterjemah oleh Shazni Bhai.

PERJALANAN pacuan empat roda melambung-lambung sepanjang laluan berliku mendaki Gunung Korbu di negeri Perak. Empat puluh minit ke pedalaman terdapat binaan konkrit didirikan berketinggian 5 meter atau hampir 2 tingkat.

Binaan itu adalah sebuah empangan hidro elektrik mini, yang akan dikerah bagi menjana 7 megawatt (MW) tenaga boleh diperbaharui untuk grid kuasa elektrik.

Ini adalah salah satu empangan hidro elektrik mini yang akan dibina di seluruh negeri ini. Walau pun bertujuan untuk memenuhi komitmen tenaga boleh diperbaharui kerajaan, konflik dengan komuniti Orang Asli dilihat makin meningkat.

(Imej utama: Tenaga boleh diperbaharui dijana oleh empangan hidro mini di Sungai Korbu, namun untuk siapa dan apa korbannya? | Foto: Ashley Yeong)

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In-Depth

Perak Dams Threaten Stone Spirits and Ancestral Graves

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A series of small dams that is part of Perak’s green transition is making Orang Asli communities go up in arms.

IT IS A bumpy truck ride along the winding path up Gunung Korbu in Perak. Forty minutes in, a concrete structure stands 5 m, or nearly 2 floors, tall. This structure is a mini hydroelectric dam, tasked to generate 7 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy for the electricity grid.    

This is one of the mini hydroelectric dams to be built throughout the state. While helping to meet the state’s renewable energy commitments, they appear to be in increasing conflict with Orang Asli communities.

(Feature photo: Renewable energy is generated by the Sungai Korbu mini hydro dam, but for whom and at what cost? | Image: Ashley Yeong)

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Macaranga

为油棕而破坏森林与老虎栖息地，价值何在？

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YP Olio 有限公司最近从联邦环境局获得允准在8498公顷的地块上清除森林并种植油棕。

该项目地块位于彭亨州的珍妮-百乐综合森林内，这是一个具有丰富生物多样性和生态价值的天然森林。在项目地块里还有两座原住民村落，村民声称该地方是他们的习俗地。

Macaranga发现，该项目将给发展商带来巨大的利益，而政府和社会将付出高昂的代价。此外，项目对森林的破坏将危及已经濒危的马来亚虎。

该项目对马来西亚油棕业的声誉有什么影响？ 对于彭亨州政府和发展商来说，最适当的选择又是什么？

第一篇：为卖不出去的油棕砍伐森林

第二篇：承诺保育老虎，却在彭亨破坏栖息地

第三篇：原住民为森林放弃新房子

 

Macaranga

Apa nilainya musnah hutan dan habitat harimau demi kelapa sawit?

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Syarikat YP Olio Sdn Bhd baru menerima kelulusan daripada Jabatan Alam Sekitar untuk menebang kawasan hutan 8,498 ha untuk dijadikan ladang kelapa sawit.

Tapak itu terletak dalam kompleks hutan Chini-Bera, Pahang, sebuah hutan asli yang cukup kaya dengan kepelbagaian biologi dan nilai-nilai ekologi. Terdapat juga dua kampung Orang Asli dalam tapak projek yang menuntut kawasan itu sebagai tanah adat mereka.

Siasatan Macaranga mendapati bahawa projek ini membawa manfaat besar kepada pihak pemaju, manakala pihak kerajaan dan masyarakat menanggung kos yang tinggi. Tambahan pula, kemusnahan hutan itu akan menjejas populasi harimau Malaya yang sudahpun hampir pupus.

Apakah kesan projek tersebut ke atas reputasi kemampanan industri kelapa sawit di Malaysia? Apakah pilihan paling wajar bagi pihak kerajaan Pahang dan pemaju?

Bahagian 1: Menebang Hutan Demi Kelapa Sawit Yang Takkan Terjual

Bahagian 2: Biarpun Sudah Berjanji, Habitat Harimau di Pahang Tetap Dimusnahkan

Bahagian 3: Orang Asli Menolak Tawaran Rumah Baharu Untuk Hutan

Insight

Orang Asli Reject New Houses for Forests

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After guarding a blockade against loggers for 16 months, a group of Orang Asli in Pahang is bringing their fight to the courts. The Kampung Mesau villagers have just filed a summons against the Pahang government and a developer for violating their customary rights. Part 3 of 3.

This story is produced in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network.

[Versi Bahasa Malaysia] [即将发布：中文版]

RICE COOKS in a soot-covered pot behind Rani Jilal. The 72-year-old man sits on bare ground in his hut. He is a senior member of the Temoq Orang Asli of Kampung Mesau in the Chini-Bera forests, Pahang.

Behind Rani, the boiling rice spills out of the pot into the wood fire. He ignores the sizzle. He is talking about his fear that his kin would be chased off the land they claim as their customary right. He has seen how swiftly developers can tear their world apart.

(Photo: The villagers of Kampung Mesau in Pahang built a blockade to save their forests from loggers. After 16 months of sleeping by the blockade, they have brought their fight to the High Court. | Pic by YH Law)

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Insight

Cutting the Chini-Bera Forests for Oil Palm that Can’t Sell

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YP Olio Sdn Bhd has just received approval from the Department of Environment to turn a sprawling forest in Pahang into oil palm. But evidence suggests the plantation will fail to get mandatory certification and license. So, why cut the forest? Part 1 of 3.

This story is produced in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network.

[Versi Bahasa Malaysia] [中文版]

FOR MUCH of 2020 and 2021, loggers cleared huge tracts of forest on private land in southeastern Pahang. The site used to be part of a forest reserve in the Chini-Bera forest complex. Now, silty logging roads wind across the shrubby landscape.

The logging had stopped at a fork in a main logging road since June 2021. Perhaps the loggers were deterred by the wooden blockade erected there by the local Orang Asli. Perhaps the landowner, YP Olio Sdn Bhd, was waiting for authorities’ approval of its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.

(Photo: In Pahang, logging on YP Olio Sdn Bhd’s 8,498 ha land stops at a blockade set up by Orang Asli. | Pic by YH Law)

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