JOHOR BARU: The development along the Straits of Johor under the Iskandar Malaysia project has angered the orang asli who claim their sacred graveyard has been encroached upon by developers.

A group of 200 Orang Seletar, also known as the Sea People, claimed developers were clearing their ancestral burial grounds without informing them.

Orang Seletar representative Eddie Salim said the action of the developers trespassing into ancestral graveyard came to light on the eve of Chinese New Year.

Mangrove no more: Orang Seletar passing by what used to be a mangrove forest along Sungai Temon in the Straits of Johor Friday. — MOHD FARHAAN SHAH /The Star

“The developers did not inform us and we only knew about this when we saw a bulldozer clearing the area just before the Chinese New Year,” he said, adding that the burial ground was in a four-hectare area.

Ten graves have been desecrated.

Sothi Akun, 48, said the Orang Seletar, a fishing community, had already put up signs around the area indicating that the land was a graveyard.

“Since the development began along the straits, we have also been suffering due to the pollution which resulted in a drop in our catch,” he said.

Fendi Salim, 31, said the Orang Seletar were not against development but wanted the government to recognise them as they have been living in the area for a long time.

The Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), which received a report from the Orang Seletar over the action of the developers, organised a dialogue session between the Orang Seletar, Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda) and the Orang Asli Development Department.

Suhakam commissioner Muhamad Sha'ani Abdullah said such incidents happened frequently to every orang asli community throughout the country due to the slow action of state governments.

“The orang asli would only know that their area has been encroached upon when a bulldozer appears.

“State governments should be considerate and give the orang asli a gazetted area for them to live in, especially in an area where they have been staying for a long time,” he said.

Irda social development head Norhisham Hussein said the project along Sungai Temon had been stopped and they were discussing the matter with the Orang Seletar to find a solution.

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