KOTA BHARU, July 25 — Measures to resolve the issue of logging barricades set up by the Orang Asli community in Gua Musang were postponed due to certain constraints, said Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah.
He said although the state government had outlined some actions from discussions with several relevant agencies, it could not be implemented at present.
“If possible, the state government wants to solve this problem as soon as possible but due to political issues and security factors, we have to postpone it for the time being.
“We are now awaiting feedback from the Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department and the related ministries so that the action taken by the state government will be in tandem with that of the federal government,” he told the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly sitting at the Kota Darul Naim Complex here today.
Mohd Amar was replying to a question from Abdul Aziz Yusoff (BN-Nenggiri), who wanted to know the measures taken by the state government to address the problem of logging barricades set up by the Orang Asli Community Network Group.
Replying to a supplementary question from Abdul Aziz, who claimed the barricades were set up by the Orang Asli because the state government did not fulfill the claims filed by them, Mohd Amar (PAS-Panchor) said several of the claims were unreasonable,
“For example like the Orang Asli claims that their roaming areas be fully gazetted and for every family to be given a 20-hectare land is not reasonable.
However, the government has gazetted the settlement and planting areas for the community concerned besides asking logging companies to stop their activities and search for other areas,” he added. — Bernama
