Calling for news of the arrest to be spread, Siti claimed that the three were arrested when loggers rushed to the site of the blockade with policemen in tow, who once there, proceeded to destroy the wooden fortifications.
“The police came with loggers in the loggers’ car and without showing identification, rushed through the blockade aggressively. They also brought weapons with them,” her online posting said earlier this afternoon.
The detainees were forced into the loggers’ car before they were taken to the Gua Musang police station, she alleged.
In her latest post, Siti clarified that the “thugs” were not sent by the Gua Musang police. She also said she would work with the trio to lodge a police report on the incident.
Siti was however unable to furnish FMT with more details of the incident as she was currently too bogged down with work.
At the time of publication, her initial post received close to 400 likes and over 240 shares with many netizens demanding justice for the affected Orang Asli.
“Loggers paid the police to act as their bodyguards. Report to MACC,” said Facebook user Terence Heng.
Another netizen, Matt Baharin, commented on Siti Kassim’s post, asking the police to take immediate action if the officers who conducted the arrests were not acting under official orders.
The Orang Asli in the area had last week, announced their plan to confront loggers by blocking roads leading up to their ancestral land near Kuala Betis, a rural village located in Gua Musang.
According to the secretary of Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Kelantan (JKOAK) Mustafa Along, the blockade was set-up because logging in the state had badly affected the livelihoods of the villagers.
He also said that the rampant logging in the locality had caused immense environmental pollution.
Mustafa said the community was upset that loggers had never bothered to engage with the Orang Asli community prior to clearing the forest.