Indigenous Malaysians protest proposed land bill

Activists for the Orang Asli, the term for the native tribes in peninsular Malaysia, say the legislation expected to be tabled this July will give them only 50,000 hectares (123,550 acres) of the 129,000 they claim.

“Who are you to give the land when it is already the Orang Asli's,” said Colin Nicholas, coordinator for the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, addressing the government.

Several protesters carried multicolored placards saying “Don't take away our rights” and “We are willing to bathe in blood” as leaders handed over a memorandum to rural and regional development minister Shafie Apdal.

Some of the demonstrators, who gathered outside the prime minister's office in the administrative capital of Putrajaya, were dressed in loincloths and colorful headgear made of flowers, tree bark and coconut leaves.

“We open our ears to whatever grouses the public, in particular the Orang Asli, have. If anyone says we are depriving them, we are neglecting them, that's not true,” Shafie told reporters.

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