Kuala Lampur, April 3 --  

KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 - Among the 21 Orang Asli arrested in February for trespassing on a palm oil plantation near Kampung Jemeri in Kuala Rompin, Pahang, 17 were women.

The company that was given permission to develop the land said the Orang Asli presence there was illegal. The Orang Asli countered that they were on land they had cultivated long before the company arrived, citing the Sagong Tasi case, where the High Court, in 2002, recognised the Orang Asli's right to customary land and affirmed the government's fiduciary duty to protect the rights of Orang Asli communities. 

Their ages ranging from 26 to 60, the number of Orang Asli women involved in the Kampung Jemeri trespassing case raised...