Hearing of High Court case in Gua Musang

The case was called up for hearing before the Judge Dato Azman. The plaintiffs are represented by Mr. N. Subramaniyan and Mr. Lum Chee Seng.

The three defendants are: (1) The District Council of Gua Musang, (2) The Land Administrator and (3) The Kelantan State Government. The originating summons and the affidavit in support were served on all the defendants.

The case was initially fixed for hearing on 10th. October 2007, but because of the Hari Raya Puasa, the Court postponed the case to 15th. January 2008.

Our lawyers attended Court on 15th January 2008. Only the 1st.Defendant was represented by lawyer En. Mohd Yousof. Nobody came from the State Legal Adviser's office to represent the 2nd. and 3rd. Defendants when the case was called up for hearing before the Judge.

After initial hearing of the lawyers for both parties, the Judge directed that written submission be filed. The Judge then fixed the case on 26th. May 2008 for clarification of the written submission.

January 16

New Straits Times

China Press

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December

The court case will be heard in the High Court in Kota Baru on the 15th January '08 (Tuesday). Please uphold us in your prayer that the State Government will abide by the Federal Constitution of freedom of worship and that the OA will no longer be oppressed there.

Please take notice of this fact

We had built 2 brick churches in Raub, and 2 churches in Kuala Lipis both in Pahang and also on Orang Asli traditional land since 2004, for the Pahang State Government respected the Federal Constitution and the land-rights of the Orang Asli as provided in the Laws of Malaya..

                   Churches in Raub

     Kg. Sg. Ruai                       Kg. Chandan  

            Churches in Kuala Lipis                     

       Pos Tual                           Kg. Regang

October

On the 13th October '07, we dedicated the Regang Church in Raub, Pahang to the Lord.

The D.O. of Gua Musang did not keep his word as mentioned in Malaysiakini (dated 13 Jun 07), thus we are left with no other alternative but to proceed with the civil suit against the local authority and the Kelantan State Government.

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September

Preparation by the lawyers to sue the state government for violating the Traditional land of the Orang Asli as provided by the Law of this country.

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August

The construction of the Dewan (hall) was completed. It lies on the same site as the demolished church, but parallel to the river, much smaller than the fine church built before. (You can compare the two buildings, the former and the new Dewan, in the pictures below). It's been slapped on the Penghulu's own land against his and the villagers' desire. It has nothing to do with them, its not what they put their heart into, and therefore it is just an insult and punishment on them when they have only tried to improve their lives and seek to be a people of dignity.

Pictures of both

                                         
 The Demolished Church                    The New Dewan

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1st July 2007

A civil suit was filed in the Kota Bharu High Court against those involved in the demolition of the church. (1st. July is a Sunday but a working day in Kelantan - an Islamic state

The continuation of the construction of the Dewan (hall) brings about deep hurts among the villagers in both young and old, reminding them they are just 'slaves' of the outside authorities because their livelihood, freedom and privacy are withheld from them. These abusers of the federal constitution and also of human rights should be removed from the government service because they do not serve their government faithfully, let alone the people. Their only recluse was to comfort one another and to pray that they could forgive these abusers, tyrants who assert themselves as lords and masters over them.

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4th June 2007

The church building was knocked down and demolished. The villagers (both young and old) were so disappointed with the Government (especially JHEOA) for not looking after their needs and interests. They witnessed over 100 men come in to do this ugly work, with over 50 armed police to protect them.  They all looked grieved, shocked and deeply saddened by the destruction of all their labours to build, their hard but joyful sacrifices in the work. Thus, much tears fell here these days because of these atrocities by the authority.

Pictures before the demolition

6th June 2007

A police report was made at the Gua Musang Police Station by the headman Pg. Pedik bin Busu of Kg. Jias and he was accompanied by the lawyer Mr. Lum C. S.  (0606 Police report) (0606 Receipt of report). We submitted all the relevant documents for the lawyers to present the case.

Pictures after the demolition

        

Immediately at the site, we held an impromptu service to turn the hearts of the villagers from any bitterness, hatred and vengeance. To focus our hearts on the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and to learn to forgive these oppressors and abusers.

Impromptu worship service

                 

We pleaded with all the OA brethren to leave the case to the court and not to speculate, encouraging them to forgive all those who wanted the church building destroyed. We all prayed that God would forgive all those who took part in the demolition of His church building for they do not know our Lord Jesus. We also prayed that God would bless them with the true knowledge of Him, the Creator of this universe and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Our OA brethren, though sad and in grief, thus showed forgiveness. To God be the glory.)

We ask all to pray for our Agung (the King), the Prime Minister and his cabinet, Sultans and all state authorities to uphold the federal constitution so that Malaysia will always be a peaceful nation.

7th June 2007

A temporary tent was set up for them to worship under because of the constant evening rain (Tent-Jias).

12th June 2007

The news was reported in the Malaysiakini webpage (0612 Page 01 & 0612 Page 02).

A letter was prepared by the land office (Pejabat Tanah dan Jajahan) of Gua Musang dated 12/6/07 to the Penghulu of Kg. Jias announcing that Bazlin Enterprise was appointed as the contractor for the building of a `Balai Serbaguna' (multi-use hall) in the village. The contractor was instructed to start work on 31/5/07.

13th June 2007

The follow-up news was in the Malaysiakini webpage (0613 Page 03).

14th June 2007

A bulldozer was sent in to clear the rubble of the demolished church. The villagers protested knowing that nothing should be removed from the site after the police report was made on 6th. June and the filing of the court action was in progress.

Then the letter prepared by the land office dated 12/6/07 was handed over to the headman and villagers and warned them that the state government had approved this project. The headman and villagers protested that they only wanted a church and not a `Balai Serbaguna'. The site was then cleared of all the rubble, down to the bare earth, against protest. (Site-0 | Site-02 | Site-03).

The church remains were bulldozed down the river bank, finalising the destruction of the villagers' cherished place of worship and community centre, erasing it completely from memory and stamping the dominance of those in authority in the state of Kelantan over the OA people and land in dramatic fashion. The villagers wept from great heart-pain. The men, women and children all wept together.

15th June 2007

Based on the report in the Malaysiakini webpage (13/6/07), a lawyer's letter thanking the Gua Musang's District Officer for the rebuilding of the church was sent, requesting confirmation for the compensation of the church building costs within 7 days. (0615 Lawyer03 & 0615 Lawyer04). By the end of the month we had no response from the DO of Gua Musang.

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14th May 2007

The (newspaper) reported that Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz, the Mentri Besar of Kelantan and spiritual leader of PAS 'warned' that none could impose Islam on others against their will—for he too knew that the OA were being forced to abandon other beliefs with great intimation.  (0514-newspaper).

Please continue to pray for the king, the PM and those in authority that they will uphold the constitution of freedom of religion and justice in this country.

24th May 2007

Officers from the Gua Musang Municipal handed the notice to the headman stating that the church building will be demolished within 7 days.(0524-notice demolish).

This land was handed down from generations to the present descendents and is the traditional Orang asli land. Part of the headman's orchard was used for this church building. Today, it looks as though there is no longer any land that belongs to the Orang Asli. Where are the Orang Asli Reserves that were set aside for them over 50 years ago?

Please pray for justice for these forgotten hardcore poor in this country.

25th May 2007

We thank God for the immediate help from NECF with the following reply (0525-NECF). We pray that all those elected to their positions especially the leaders of this country would be God-fearing and would not allow all these unfair treatments, especially to the hardcore poor.

28th May 2007

We thank God for our beloved lawyer who came forth to assist the poor and oppressed OA with this letter as the reply (2528-Lawyer01 & 2528-Lawyer02).

30th May 2007

Pictures of church building: < Pic 01 | Pic 02 | Pic 03 >

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8th April 2007

Worship service to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ—in the open air (0408-photo) because all their houses were small and ready to collapse (0411-photo).

11th April 2007

3 members from the Land Office (Pejabat Tanah dan Jajahan Gua Musang) gave the notice accusing the headman of building on his orchard without approval. A fine up to RM 10,000 and/or 1 year jail would be liable (0411-notice). We continued working fearlessly towards the completion of a decent place of worship for the OA brethren in Kg. Jias. 

12th April 2007

We thank God for the immediate reply by Rev Wong Kim Kong of NECF to the authority. (0412-letter).

19th April 2007

4 members from Majlis Daerah Gua Musang demanded that we stopped work immediately or face a fine of RM 250 per day for non-compliance of the notice. (0419-notice).

24th April 2007

3 police officers stopped me while on my way out to Gua Musang from Kg. Jias at about 11 am. They demanded to see my IC and I obliged after seeing the officer's I.D. They insisted without reason that I should follow them back to the Police Station to which I declined for I was heading back to KL to celebrate my wife's birthday at 7 pm. The chief officer was polite but the other 2 took me as a criminal. They kept following me and waited (about 10 min) when we picked up Bro. Yee's family for KL. Only then did they leave me alone. Then they went to Kg. Jias to take down the IC of the volunteers there.

25th April 2007

Early the next morning I made my way back to Kg. Jias. 2 Brethren from Canning Garden Baptist church visited and encouraged us. Work continued to progress (0425-1 & 0425-2).

We hoped to complete this building by mid-May 2007

Many groups still came in till the headman was bold enough to tell them that this place is not a tourist attraction.

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5th March 2007

We held our 1st. weekly worship service (every Monday) in Kg. Jias in the open air.

6th March 2007

Because it is easily reachable and the surrounding villages has a population of over a thousand OA souls. we decided to build a permanent church there. The headman sacrificed his orchard (150ft by 200ft) of matured fruit trees (many more than 50 years old) for the church land. OA members of JKKK and JHEOA meeting with the villagers verbally requested that the building to be of cement flooring and wooden walls which were acceptable by the headman and villagers.

7th March 2007

The villagers began work by felling fruit trees, clearing the bushes and leveling the ground.

15th March 2007

Christian brethren who volunteered to begin the construction of the church, started to proceed to Gua Musang.

19th March 2007

Steel and concrete work on footing and ground beams (0322-photo). However, a person who came in the JHEOA vehicle came to command us to stop work immediately for he had not given the permission to build the church building otherwise he will tear down the building. Since the `so-called authority' contradicted themselves, the whole village decided that the building was to be of brick and concrete, for it will be most difficult to pull down.

22nd March 2007

Concreting of columns (0322-photo). From then on, many religious groups came uninvited to view the construction. Some of them were annoying and started clicking away with their cameras without manners. Some of them just popped up right in front of us to take our photos closed-up.

22nd March 2007

Another 7 souls were baptized into the Body of Jesus (0322-photo).

23rd March 2007

The villagers continued with the construction regardless of the threats (0323-photo).

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1st February 2007

Our 1st. OA Bible School session for 2007 was from 1st Feb to 8th Feb (0201-photo). Prior to the commencement of the OA Bible School, an old man (63 years of age) approached me and he was a stranger to me. Bro. Yee introduced him as the headman of Kg. Jias. He came with another villager to see for himself the way we run God's ministry. He related to me that He was very satisfied with our work among the interior OA villages for the last 7 years and had found that they truly have benefited from our help. 3 years ago, he stopped one of the OA Christian brethren and was misled by him that if he wanted to be a Christian he (and all his villagers) had to go into the interior. Last month, he met Bro. Yee and was invited to attend the OA Bible School.

4th February 2007

After 3 days with us, he (0204-photo) and his villagers were baptized in Cheroh along with 7 others . His desire to worship our Lord was fulfilled and he was filled with joy.

12th February 2007

On his return to his village in Gua Musang, he witnessed to his villagers and that day 31 of his people were baptized into the Body of Jesus (0212-photo).

21st February 2007

During our visit there, another 39 souls were added to the Body of Jesus (0221-photo). The same evening we held the 1st. worship service there in the open air preaching from the tree stump (0221-photo).

24th February 2007

The headman then made a written requested to us to build a church in Kg. Jias (0224-letter).

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