Deep in the rainforests of northern Malaysia, anti-logging campaigns are trying to stop logging companies from entering forests they say belong to Orang Asli communities. Blockades are being set up in peninsular Malaysia’s northern state of Kelantan by groups that say logging activities are damaging forests and the surrounding environment. Kelantan has seen more forest clearing in recent years as the state ramps up tree plantation development. Activist groups say forestry departments are granting forest access to logging companies, while restricting access to forest-dependent communities. Malaysian courts ruled recently that forests being targeted by logging companies belong to indigenous Orang Asli communities, but this did not stop logging companies, that sent the forestry police to dismantle the road blocks and arrest the activists. Jules Ong, a film director and cameraman said to Mongabay he had already been arrested in January for filming a blockade being demolished by forestry officials. “The sentence is three years and 15,000 Malaysian Ringit just for entering a jungle,” said Ong during an interview in March 2017. He thinks he will find out next month whether he will be charged
“The logging companies keep on coming to the area. We want to stop that. This land has belonged to us for hundreds of years, since our ancestors,” said Yussuman Bin Andor, a Temiar man from the village of Kampong Pos Gob to Mongabay. “We plan to do the blockades again to protect the waterfalls, the river, the medicinal plants,” Bin Andor said. “The fish in the river are all finished, we don’t have fish anymore. So we have to stop the logging however we can.” He explained that the river has silted up due to soil erosion from nearby logging. He said the variety and amount of plants gathered for use in cooking and healing has also declined, leading to concern about the impacts of logging on their region.
“The logging companies keep on coming to the area. We want to stop that. This land has belonged to us for hundreds of years, since our ancestors,” said Yussuman Bin Andor, a Temiar man from the village of Kampong Pos Gob to Mongabay. “We plan to do the blockades again to protect the waterfalls, the river, the medicinal plants,” Bin Andor said. “The fish in the river are all finished, we don’t have fish anymore. So we have to stop the logging however we can.” He explained that the river has silted up due to soil erosion from nearby logging. He said the variety and amount of plants gathered for use in cooking and healing has also declined, leading to concern about the impacts of logging on their region.