Perak Hydro Renewable Energy Corporation Sdn Bhd (PHREC) chief operating officer Syed Amir Nidzamuddin Syed Abu Hussin said the RM60 million project in Slim would be suspended pending a study on its environmental impact on the Orang Asli villages nearby.
“We will work with the state government to study the issues brought up by the Orang Asli located in Slim due to the construction of the power station, which is 60% completed, and try to solve those issues.
“We insist that we built the station on government-owned land, and not on the Orang Asli’s ancestral land,” he said when met at Pos Bersih, an Orang Asli settlement here.
Syed said the station would be ready by year-end.
“There were three stations constructed concurrently by the company: in Slim, Kerian and Sungai Geruntum in Gopeng,” he said, adding that the suspension only applied to the power plant in Slim.
Meanwhile, activist A Ramesh said he had approached opposition parties with the same demands, but they had not been entertained.
“I went to the opposition with my demands for the Orang Asli to be added into their manifesto, but they did not accept it.
“They think they know better than the Orang Asli themselves,” Ramesh, from Koperasi Pembangunan Orang Asli Perak, told a press conference.
He said the Orang Ali community would likely support Barisan Nasional (BN) now that its demand was fulfilled.
“This is what they always wanted. So they are happy now and they are okay with supporting BN.”
Tok Batin Gahrai Kadek, the most senior Semai tribe adviser for Tok Batins in Malaysia, welcomed the news and said the Orang Asli had no issues supporting BN now that their concerns had been addressed.
He warned however that they could change their minds at any time if these demands were not met. He added that the community wanted individual lots of their land to be given to them.
“I have always fought for the rights to our ancestral land. This is my only fight. This is all I want, for our land to be given to us. If this is agreed to, then we will vote for BN.”
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