Efforts to get the Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor State government to withdraw its appeal in the Federal Court began on the eve of the scheduled Federal Court hearing of the appeal by the four defendants on 15 April 2008, five weeks after the coalition came to power in the state.
However, at the dinner meeting with the Selangor Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) arranged by Selangor executive councillor and Bukit Lanjan Assemblyman Elizabeth Wong, COAC and lawyer friends did not manage to get the MB to withdraw the case then although he did direct the state legal adviser to ask for a postponement of the hearing pending further consideration of the matter.
In the interim, a briefing paper and several communications from COAC were exchanged with the state outlining the position of the Orang Asli and the reasons why the state government should withdraw the appeal. More engagement with the state government followed, especially through the good offices of Executive Councillor Elizabeth Wong, culminating in a Dialogue with the MB where 500 Orang Asli in Selangor attended as well as several State Assemblymen.
As an immediate consequence of this, the Selangor Orang Asli Land Task Force or Badan Bertindak Tanah Orang Asli Selangor (BBTOAS) was established, led by and comprised entirely of Orang Asli members in Selangor. The main function of the task force is to recommend to the state how best to solve the land problems faced by its Orang Asli.
But the issue of the Sagong Tasi appeal in the Federal Court was still on the cards. Through the efforts of Tricia Yeoh (the Special Adviser to the MB) and that of Jenita Engi (the Orang Asli assistant to the State EXCO member Elizabeth Wong), a special briefing for the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) was held in the State Secretariat Building on 26 March 2009.
Special briefing for the Selangor Chief Minister, 26 March 2009, Shah Alam (CN 2009)
Apart from COAC, who presented on the background of the case and the history of Orang Asli land issues in the state, prominent lawyers Tuan Hj Sulaiman, Edmond Bon and Augustine Anthony presented the legal and moral argument for the recognition of native title rights for the Orang Asli.
Also present were Bah Tony who represented the Orang Asli community, the State Legal Adviser Datuk Zauyah Be Loth Khan and her assistant, as well as State Assemblymen Edward Lee and Nasir Hashim.
The special briefing and the preceding Dialogue with the Orang Asli must have helped clear all doubts the MB may have had regarding the virtue of pulling out of the Sagong Tasi appeal. For as recent as three months earlier, the MB had still expressed concerns about the implications and cost of such a move for the state government.
Then, knowing that the case was coming up for mention in the Federal Court the next day, the MB brought up the issue again at the state EXCO meeting on Wednesay, 21 April 2009. After some discussion, the EXCO members unanimously agreed to withdraw the Federal Court Appeal.
This is an important step in the settlement of the Sagong Tasi land rights case as the state government's involvement in the case, as a defendant, is that it claims to be the 'owner' of the lands acquired forcibly from the Orang Asli.
With the 'land owner' now willingly withdrawing its claim, it is difficult to see how the other 3 defendants - the Federal Gvernment, the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) and United Engineers Malaysia Berhad (UEM) - can sustain their case.
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