“It is unfortunate that land falls under the state’s jurisdiction,” said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waytha Moorthy. “But we have consulted the attorney-general on what can be done to protect them,” he said at a forum with the theme of race and ethnicity here.

The assurance comes after enforcement officers on Sunday removed a blockade set up by the Temiar Orang Asli community to stop encroachments into their settlement by logging and plantation companies.

The PAS-led Kelantan administration has insisted that the lands being claimed by the Orang Asli belonged to the state government and have issued licences for logging activities.

Early this month, some 200 Orang Asli met Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, seeking the federal government’s intervention in their dispute with the Kelantan government.

Waytha, who is in charge of national unity and social wellbeing, said the Orang Asli were not the only minority group which had approached him since his appointment.

“Minority groups in Sabah and Sarawak have come to see me and said their rights have been sidelined,” he said.

He said his ministry was working to ensure Putrajaya ratifies the United Nations’ International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, or ICERD.

“The convention is a proper framework to guide us in upholding unity and promoting a community free from racial and religious discrimination,” Waytha said.