BN To Gazette Orang Asli Land In Selangor If Given Mandate - Noh Omar




HULU SELANGOR, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- The Barisan Nasional (BN) will continue its efforts to gazette all Orang Asli land in Selangor should the mandate to lead the state again be given to the party in the coming 14th General Election.

Selangor BN Chairman Tan Sri Noh Omar also assured that all issues pertaining to the Orang Asli community would be resolved if matters pertaining to land which were under the authority of the state government were given back to BN.

He said to date, a total of 35 Orang Asli settlements involving 2723.73 hectares of land had been surveyed and applications to gazette the land had been sent to district and land offices by the federal government through the Orang Asli Development Department.

However Noh said, the applications had yet to be approved by the Selangor state government.

"We have allocated RM1.3 million for the purpose of gazetting the Orang Asli land throughout the state but the jurisdiction to gazette land lies with the state government.

"This is among the issues highlighted in our last general election manifesto and BN will remain committed to continue the effort in the next general election,"he told reporters after launching a gotong-royong programme at Kampung Orang Asli Gurney, here today.

Noh said the ungazetted land was at high risks of being easily taken by irresponsible parties.

"We do not want this land to be encroached by greedy parties in carrying out development without taking into account the problems faced by the Orang Asli,"he said.

Earlier, Noh who is also Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister announced the construction of two houses for the Orang Asli community at Kampung Orang Asli Gurney.

Meanwhile, Kampung Orang Asli Gurney Tok Batin Johari Jenangpesan, 50, said he hoped that the issue of ungazetted land which were mostly meant for agricultural purposes could be resolved immediately.

"The land have been cultivated with a variety of crops, so we feel unsafe if they have yet to be gazetted, because we have heard a lot of stories, where our customary land was taken by developers,"he said when met at the event.

-- BERNAMA