gazetted prior to the introduction of the Ordinance…. At the moment there are in existence in the Federation, 58 Gazetted Aborigine Reserves covering in all approximately 30 square miles, and including some 5,200 aborigines. An additional 120 areas are currently under consideration, with a view to gazetting as Reserves. They cover about 389 sq. miles and include approximately 21,000 aborigines. Alas, as the court was later to find out, none of these good intentions were realized. Thus, as a result of the state and federal governments’ neglect in both under-gazetting and not gazetting areas which they knew were inhabited by the Orang Asli, the latter’s rights in the land were placed in serious jeopardy. The practice to date has been to use the Aboriginal Peoples Act as the legal basis for compensating the Orang Asli only for their crops and dwellings whenever their lands are taken. The 1954 Act has also been used to argue that the Orang Asli do not hold proprietary interest in their land, and that the state governments exercise wide powers as to the disposal and compensation of these lands. The Orang Asli as such are only tenants-atwill, living on state land at the state’s largesse. Citing a number of legal precedents and justification, Judge Gopal reversed this interpretation. In light of the obvious conflict between the 1954 Act and the Federal Constitution, wherein Article 13(2) states that, “No law shall provide for compulsory acquisition or use of property without adequate compensation,” he ruled that relevant portions of the 1954 Act, “had to be brought into conformity with the Constitution.” This is achieved, he says, by not reading the words in section 12 of the 1954 Act, “the State Authority may grant compensation therefor” as conferring a discretion on the State Authority whether to grant compensation or not. But by reading the relevant phrase as “the State Authority shall 14 ORANG ASLI – RIGHTS, PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS