JOHOR BARU, Aug 5 — The High Court here today allowed 51 Orang Asli from the Seletar tribe to add the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) and the Johor Baru District Land Administrator as respondents to a suit for compensation on land taken 26 years ago.
The previous respondents, the Johor Baru Central Municipal Council (now known as Iskandar Puteri City Council) and Johor Land and Mineral Office (PTG) director have been dropped to reflect on the changing times.
The lawyer acting for the group, Tan Poh Lai, said that the High Court had previously allowed a mandamus order to be given to the Orang Asli.
“There are too many technical issues in regards with mandamus order, which is why we have added two new respondents after our request was allowed by Judge See Mee Chun.
“The new list is given after we have taken into consideration the excuses given to us by the local council and PTG that did not have any authority on the land itself,” said Tan when met at the Johor Baru High Court at Menara Cyberport here.
Tan added that the appeal would be filed after September 17, which is the date for the next mention.
In June 19, it was reported that the High Court had directed the Johor Land and Mines director to negotiate with a group of Orang Asli with regards to compensation for a piece of land acquired from them since 1993.
Justice See Mee Chun made the ruling following a case management with regard to a mandamus application filed by the Orang Asli via Tan to get the Johor Baru Land and Mines Department to act in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act 1960.
It was previously reported that 51 Orang Asli from the Orang Asli Seletar had so far won two legal cases against the state government after being evicted from their land in 1993.
This came about as the order to compensate them had yet to be fully enforced, although the Johor Land and Mines Department lost the case in the High Court in 2010 and again in the Court of Appeal in 2012.
The plight of the Orang Asli Seletar began in 1993 when the state government directed the settlement to relocate from Stulang Laut, where they had been staying for hundreds of years, to Kuala Masai.
The relocation took place in 2003. Two years later, the Orang Asli took the government to court following a series of events, including the demolition of a church they had built in Kuala Masai.
In the 2010 judgment, High Court judge Justice Zakiah Kassim ruled that the land in Stulang Laut, which had been developed into a shopping and commercial centre known as The Zon, belonged to the community.
