"Temiar Orang Asli get day in court against Kelantan gov't", 30 May 2016

Today marks the first day of hearing for the land rights case of the Temiar Orang Asli of Pos Belatim, Kelantan, against the state government and the director-general of the state’s land and mines.

This is after the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial of the case almost two years ago…

The Temiar had filed the application to court, stating that they have customary rights under customary law.

This is after the Perbadanan Pembangunan Ladang Rakyat Negeri Kelantan entered into an agreement with another party to develop the land, but the Temiar were not happy as the project had encroached on their lands.

The first customary land rights case of customary law, the Temiar are arguing that their lands cannot be given away without compensation, if they have customary land rights.

The Temiar first discovered five years ago that their lands were to be developed into an oil palm plantation…