Guns, threats won’t scare us, say natives

If the government continues to remain aloof from clashes between natives and oil palm companies, then it should be prepared for a bloodbath.

KUCHING: Despite two attempts on his life by workers allegedly from Palm Raya Pelita, Semawi Anak Renang will not be intimidated in defending his native customary rights (NCR) land and that of 25 other families.

Instead the threats against him and the other landowners of Rumah Randi, Selangau, have made them more determined than ever to defend their 3,000 hectares of land

Last Wednesday, the landowners organised a “sandau hari” (a ceremony in preparation for war) invoking the spirits of their forefathers for assistance, strength and courage following the second attempt on Semawi’s life.

The latest attempt on his life was made on July 2.

According to Semawi, he was on the way to take his bath in a river near the longhouse, when he saw two 4WD vehicles, one of which was blocking the road.

He went to the driver to ask him to remove the vehicle, when suddenly another vehicle rushed at him.

He was hit and thrown into the bush. Both vehicles hurriedly left the scene.  Several people witnessed the incident.

His wife Leman Anak Senang claimed that one of the managers from the company met her, offering RM20,000 to pay for her husband’s medical expenses, and urged her not to report the incident to the police.

She turned down the offer and lodged a report with the Selangau police station. Semawi is now in Sibu General Hospital.

Semawi’s home shot at

The first attempt on his life was made in the early hours of May 25 when strangers fired shotguns towards his house. No one was injured, but his 4WD was damaged.

A report had also been made with the police.

Semawi believed that he was the target of the gangsters allegedly employed by the company as he and 25 others refused to surrender their land to the company after the company failed to adhere to the agreement between them and the company.

They have filed legal action against the company and the case is pending.

During the “sandau hari” hundreds of residents from other longhouses pledged to fight together with them.

“We must be united to defend our rights. When our rights are taken away, in this case our land, we must not retreat.

“Our forefathers defended their land with blood and tears,” they said.

Meanwhile, Joshua Jabeng, PKR’s potential candidate for the Selangau seat, has called on the government especially the police to arrest the culprits and take immediate action in order to prevent violence and bloodshed.

He said that the companies had to proceed with their activities as they had invested millions of ringgit in oil palm, but the native landowners had to defend their rights.

“So bloody clashes between the natives and the oil palm companies are expected if the government does not intervene,” he warned.

Jabeng also said the government should be held responsible for any consequences as the government was the one which gave provisional leases to these companies to take away the rights of the natives. – Free Malaysia Today.

Ali Biju expresses concerns on perimeter survey

KUCHING: The much touted perimeter survey is not only confusing the native landowners by the intention of this new initiative but it is also worrying them over the long term legal implications, said Ali Biju, Krian assemblyman.

“Section 6(1) of Land code mentions that any area of state land may be turned into Native Communal Reserve. However, all of the land surveyed now is NCR land.

“Does NCR still exist inside the Native Communal Reserve?

“What might happen to the NCR land outside the perimeter survey?

“Is it going to be the final survey? What is the status of 'pulau galau' and 'pemakai menoa' under this new initiative?” Biju asked during the debate on the state budget.

He quoted Section 6(3) of the Land code pertaining to Native Communal Reserves which clearly states that ‘any such land shall continue to be state land, and the native community for whose use it was reserved or any members thereof acquiring any rights therein shall hold the same as a licensee from the government, .... the issue of any document of title in respect thereof shall be in the absolute discretion of the Director’.

“In plain language, Native Communal Reserve is in actual fact state land,” said Biju.

He said that Section (4) states that if the Minister satisfied that any area under Native Communal Reserve is required for public purpose, that area to be resumed by the government and compensation to be paid as confirmed by honourable minister.

“However, does the government compensate affected natives for their trees, crops and dwellings? Is it possible to register agro-based business entity using Native Communal Reserve as an official address?” he asked.

Biju said that as a result of these confusions, native landowners still prefer their land to remain NCR land as it is now, pointing out that perimeter survey does not enhance the value of NCR land.

“What the native landowners really request for is that their NCR land be surveyed directly under Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code, not Section 6.

“A good example is the big area of NCR land of the Iban community at Entebu/Selambong/Muton area which was excluded from Lots 489 and 480 Block 18 Awik-Krian Land District gazetted as Native Communal (Agriculture) Reserve (Swk. L.N.50 dated 29.3.2011.

“The government must clarify whether the NCR land outside the Communal Reserve is state land or NCR land,” Biju demanded.

The perimeter survey was initiated just before the State election to survey all NCR land belonging to the natives with an initial fund of RM20 million.

Later another RM60 million was added to the fund.

So far 27 areas in every division had been surveyed, and 30 more areas to be covered by the end of the year.

It is reported that there are 1.5 million hectares of NCR land throughout the state.

Machinery and quarters burnt down

SEBUYAU: Fire on Monday afternoon (18 October) destroyed a block of two storey quarters occupied by timber workers, a store, six tractors, two logging trucks, a pick up and an excavator belonging to a logging company.

Six tractors were left in the forest, while two logging trucks, a pick up and an excavator were in the camp site when they were found to have been destroyed by fire.

The destroyed properties are owned by Royal Billion Sdn Bhd, a logging contractor of Quality Concrete Holdings. Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s sister Raziah is a director of the company.

The amount of loss is yet to be estimated.

It is not immediately known how the fire started or who were responsible for it.

The logging company, Quality Concrete Holdings, has been in the centre of dispute after the Forest Department has given it a licence to carry out logging activities in the disputed 3,305 hectares of forests which the Ibans from six longhouses claim to be their NCR land.

When negotiations failed the Ibans have also brought their case with the Police, the district and resident offices, the lands and surveys and the Forest department.

When all these failed, the natives since last Friday have erected a blockade (see picture above) to stop the workers from the Royal Billion company encroaching into their native customary rights land.

They have also stopped a "tongkang" from loading timber that has been extracted from the disputed area.

Nicholas Mujah, one of the leaders from the six Iban longhouses, said the villagers were not aware of the fire as they have been stationed at the blockade.

He said that it could be the work of arsonists who want to put the blame on the villagers.

“The villagers who put up the blockade are about four kilometres from the camp site and they were not aware what was going on in the camp.

“It (fire) must be the work of people who want to put the blame on the villagers,” said Mujah, urging the police to carry out an immediate investigation.

Emulate the Spirit of Rentap

According to The Eastern Times of 23 December 2009, the Deputy Director of (Administrative and Development and Transformation) of Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU), Abdul Rahim Md. Noor urged all civil servants in the State to have the “Rentap Spirit” to bring the nation to greater heights.

He said that Rentap had a special character, who had the spirit and the courage to fight and to defend his people, and was thus worthy of emulation by all civil servants in the state.

“Rentap was willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of his people. In fact there are many people in Sarawak who have this kind if spirit. The Sarawak Rangers and the Ngap Sayot are a few of the examples. They all have very strong fighting spirit.

“It is time for us to revive this kind of spirit and instill it into our civil service, and if we can do that, I am sure that we will be able to achieve a world class civil service by 2015,” Abdul Rahim said.

The Broken Shield’s comment:

We have now and then been reminded by our leaders to emulate the spirit of Rentap, who was one of Sarawak’s earliest freedom fighters more than 160 years ago against the “evil and cruel” White Rajah and his army.

Despite the odds against him, Rentap had never surrendered and had for a time was able to defend Bukit Sadok, Ulu Layar, Betong Division in battles in 1857 and 1858 and in 1861, he and his army were over run. He retreated to Ulu Wak where he was believed to have died.

Branded as rebel, Rentap was a fearless fighter and fought gallantly defending his territory and his people against the intruders (the White Rajah and his army).

The natives especially the Dayaks should emulate Rentap’s courage and spirit to defend in Rentap’s case his territory against the intruders (the White Rajah) and for us our NCR land against Sarawak’s new Rajah and the intruders (big plantation companies).

Thousands of acres of NCR land are being declared “State land” and then are being leased to big plantation companies. The land owners not only lose their land, their fruit trees and cash crops, but many also have lost their longhouses. But the natives, like Rentap, fight back; some put up blockades against these powerful “new Rajah” and his big plantation companies. And many have landed in jail. And They are the real “Rentaps” .

Our YBs who dare not speak for the people who voted for them against the intruders are not “Rentaps”. They are only the great pretenders. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Natives welcome with Federal Court's decision ~ Malaysiakini

Taken from http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/103985

Natives welcome with Federal Court's decision

The recent Federal Court’s decision on native customary rights (NCR) land will open a floodgate of legal actions against the Sarawak state government, a prominent NCR land lawyer, Harrison Ngau said today.

Ngau was commenting on the decision of the Federal Court which last Tuesday rejected the application of the Sarawak government to review the decision of the same court, i.e. earlier Federal Court, but comprising a different panel.

Among others, the Federal Court accepted the law on NCR land as stated by justice Ian Chin in the High Court in the Nor Anak Nyawai case in which he held inter alia that NCR land includes both cultivated or cleared land, for example "temuda", gardens, and burial grounds, former longhouse sites, and communal forests or "pulau galau" in Iban within the communal land boundary or antara menua of a longhouse.

In dismissing the said application, the Federal Court held that the earlier panel of the Federal Court did not commit any error of law or fact which requires or justifies a review.

“The significance of the Federal Court decision is that the NCR land of the natives covers or comprises all the land within the communal land boundary of their longhouses, i.e. both cultivated and forested areas therein.

“Licences for logging and planted forests and leases for oil palm plantations issued by the state which overlapped with the land within the communal land boundary of the longhouses do not or cannot extinguish the prior NCR of the natives.


Natives can sue the government

More than one million hectares of land, the bulk of which is NCR land, have been leased out over the past 20 years to many companies and state agencies.

“As such the natives can sue the state government for lawfully interfering or impairing their native customary rights and stop or blockade the companies issued with the licences or leases for encroaching onto their NCR land,” Ngau said.

He said the decision would also have some bearing on 203 NCR land cases which would start their hearing from September this year.

He suggested that the Sarawak government should now start gazetting the communal land boundary of the natives throughout Sarawak, what the Brookes and British governments did during their times.

During the Brookes times they even issued an official circular N0. 12 of 1939, directing district officers and land and survey department to record communal land boundaries of the natives. This had resulted in the compilation of the record of such land boundaries of the longhouses in the Baram district in the registrar of land boundaries now kept at the district office in Marudi, Baram.

Rights of natives over their land restored

Ngau said: “The native courts have upheld the land boundaries in many cases. Unfortunately, the Sarawak government failed to respect the NCR land of the natives as what the Brookes and British did. That resulted in the tragedy befalling the natives in Sarawak until today.“With this decision of the Federal Court, it is imperative for the Sarawak government to immediately give effect to it and stop arbitrarily issuing licences or leases over NCR land within the communal land boundaries,” he said.

Another NCR land lawyer, Baru Bian said that he was absolutely delighted as the decision of the Federal Court had finally sealed the finding of the High Court in the landmark case of Nor Nyawai that NCR land was not only confined to temuda land, but it included “pemakai menua” (territorial domain) and “pulau galau” (communal forests).

“This concept is now settled. This is because Nor Nyawai says common law recognises the pre-existence of adat and custom. Now it is a question of adducing evidence,” he added. In welcoming the Federal Court’s decision, the Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) was happy that the Federal Court had put back the rights of natives over their land.


Be sensitive to needs of natives

Its publicity officer, John Anthony Brian, said that SDNU urged the NCR land owners to take this opportunity to move forward and develop their land.

“We hope the Dayaks can establish their own investment vehicle to develop their land into an economic enterprise so that we do not blame the government any more,” he said, and urged the government to be sensitive to the needs of the natives and support their efforts to develop their land in order to eradicate poverty.

Meanwhile, efforts to get the State Minister of Land Development James Masing and Minister of Rural Development, Alfred Jabu anak Numpang, who is also chairman of the NCR task force, to response to the Federal Court’s decision were unsuccessful.

Being Dayaks, both ministers should be the right persons to comment on behalf of the state government on the implications of the Federal Court’s decision.

It is understood that the state legal counsel, J.C. Fong, who represented the state government had briefed the chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud on the decision.

Meanwhile, NCR land lawyers and NCR land owners are watching closely what the Taib government’s next move will be to avoid being sued.