Thursday, November 25

Baru Bian takes Dayak leaders to task


KUCHING: The Dayak leaders in the Barisan Nasional have been taken to task for failing in their duties towards the community that they are supposed to represent, and yet they dare to question the role Dayaks are playing in Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

“PKR is not a racist like Barisan Nasional; it fights for justice of all Malaysians including Dayaks. This is why I am attracted to PKR,” Baru Bian (pic), chairman of Sarawak PKR said in reply to President of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, William Mawan Ikom.

Mawan had accused PKR leaders of closing their eyes not only on Sabah and Sarawak, but also on Dayaks.

Mawan said: “Baru, being a Dayak representative, is not being appreciated in the party. Baru always focuses on the struggles of the Dayaks and their rights, especially the NCR land issues.

“This struggle does not speak well of PKR. Now that the Dayak community does not have a representative in PKR, my advice for them is to rely on the ruling BN government,”
Mawan said.

“We don’t want to follow their racist policies,” Bian added, pointing out that the absence of the Dayaks in the top leadership does not mean that the rights of the Dayaks are not protected.

He said: “We have Dayaks as President of SPDP, President of PRS, and the Deputy President of PBB. And what have they done to help the Dayaks?

You can put hundreds of Dayaks as leaders; but if they do not fight for interests of the Dayaks and have never protected their rights. Why should we support them, because they are useless?

“But if you have a non-Dayak leading a party and fights for the rights of the Dayaks, then he should be given all around support,”
he added.

“Ask them why are they not looking after the interests and the rights of the Dayaks? Why are the issues of NCR land faced by the Dayaks are are still not solved?

“Only yesterday (Land Development Minister and PRS President) James Masing suddenly woke up and found out that the common law and the Adat are so important than the Land Code.

“He and other Dayak elected representatives should long time ago know about it, and should have done something about it. We in PKR all this while know about it,” said Bian, who is a prominent NCR land lawyer.

“PKR in Sarawak has been emphasizing on the importance of native customary rights over land in Sarawak. We have been fighting for the recognition of these rights for many years.

“You know that this is an area where I am very passionate about. And I made a statement in my website and now I am issuing a similar statement that we are offering in particular to the rural folk of Sarawak a solution for the NCR land issues.

“I have said it in the past and I am going to say it again, reiterating our stand on the NCR land that we are going to form a land commission which power is not only to investigate claims on NCR land, but also the power to issue titles, gazette the area and of course issue individual titles.

“Now we are not only looking at land owned by the rural natives but we are equally concerned with land issues affecting the Malays and the Chinese,”
he said, pleading on them not to be misled by the Barisan Nasional which has been in power for the last 47 years in Sarawak.

The state BN government has reduced Sarawak into one of the three poorest states in the country, and the people of Sarawak should put a stop to this.

“Let us change the state government, and the time is now,” Bian added, lashing out at Masing who said that PKR had nothing to offer to the people of Sarawak, so they should not take the party seriously.

Explaining why he attracted to PKR, he said that the most important thing in PKR is its platform, the policy and what it is fighting for.

“I am attracted to PKR because it is fighting for the justice of all Malaysians including Dayaks. Dayaks’ interests and rights are protected.

“If that is the case then, we would ask all the Dayaks in Sarawak to come over and support PKR instead of PBB, SPDP and PRS if you want your land to be protected,” he said.- The Broken Shield

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does that mawang mean he has done a lot many for us Dayaks by staying in BN? Very surprising. Many Dayak so called representatives in BN should feel ashamed of themselves and their handicapped performance especially when come to critical issues impacting the well being and rights of us Dayaks. This joker is best for "Kalau-OK" and women only.

Anonymous said...

Many ball-less Dayak representatives are sleeping in the DUN meeting, wake up only during tea breaks and hu hu ha ha...shake hands...cheers...kisses...hugs...and polish balls

Anonymous said...

Few suggestions about Dayak lands and rights:
1. Restructure Konsep Baru
Currently the Konsep Baru ratio is 30 percent for NCR landowners and 60 percent private investors or whoever select few may involved. And it is unclear what short of sharing ratio given: annual dividends after nett profits and reserved profits brought forward (reinvested profits for working capital)? If it is annual dividends when it is due? Upon maturity of the planted crops (ie. oil palm) and sales of FFB? And look at the actual beneficiaries per person for such plantation ventures, how much NCR landowners actually get each after further dividing that 30 percent sharing ratio? If there are hundreds of NCR landowners sharing the 30 percent shares while the other 60 percent shares perhaps held by select few only, is this fair? Bear in mind that such ventures require lots of plantation inputs such as fertiliser suppliers, foreign worker agencies etc which incurred most of the running cost and without independent audit on accounts who knows it is creative accounting to cook the book, escalate the cost and in the end just another form of money laundering to the crony suppliers therefore not much profits, dividends left to shared? The opposite ratio should've been more appropriate, 60 percent or more for the NCR landowners instead given that large number of them against the select few who wish to vulture the lion share. Talk about eradicating rural poverty!

2. Konsep Sewa
On top of Konsep Baru, why not give fixed monthly land rentals to those participating NCR landowners? Why as NCR landowners, they did not enjoy the priviledge/ entitle some land rentals just like any other non-native landowners? How about RM300 per acre land rental given, is it too much when CPO now hovering RM3,000 per tonne? Who on earth will let others use/rent his lands for free, right? Why should provisional lease exclude the right for land rental to be given to the NCR landowners? Oh yes, no land titles given yet.

3. No land title, no deal!
That's why any proposal to develop NCR lands must be accompanied with the issuance of land titles first. When officially given the right as the legit landowner, especially the Dayak landowners now at least have the authority and opportunity to negotiate a more favourable terms and conditions, unlike the clearly lopsided and vogue Konsep Baru.

A meaningful NCR land development concept must assure favourable dividend/ profit sharing structures, fixed monthly land rentals and independent audit on such plantation projects accounts be it statutory govt bodies or private iniatives.

Banting said...

Sarawak`s rural areas, where the Dayaks reside, are among the poorest and undeveloped. The Dayak community is still lagging behind in all aspects of their daily life from agricultural production, health care, basic amenities and education. What have Jabu, Mawan and Masing done to help their own community in these fields while they are in government?

On education, about 0.1 per cent of Dayak are selected to go to higher learning and in the civil service out of 18,858 applications from the Ibans, only 24 were accepted for the jobs in the federal civil service. Was the selection based on qualification and meritocracy OR racial? Have Jabu, Mawan and Masing noticed this bias and no guts to speak?

In politics, Dayaks are reprsented in 30 state seats out of 71 reflecting dominance within other races in the state and yet they cannot heirs to the chief ministership. Why? Because their unity has proven elusive; just passengers in the nation and others are paddling for them? May be if Pakatan Rakyat can form the state government, the situation is different.

Dayak who are poor but formed the majority in the state should be helped and protected from unfair practices such as unequal distribution of the country`s wealth, and not let wealth end up in the hands of few rich and elite. May be Pakatan Rakyat`s policy on this unfair practices will not happen.

Therefore, the change of the present government is one of the factors that will help Dayak progressing well in politics,education and in economy.

BN is only good at singing but no substance in lyrics. whereas Pakatan Rakyat is a good song composer because it sees politics and development go together like a P. Ramlee song which said `irama dan lagu` tidak boleh dipisahkan, ertinya Dayak dan pembangunan tidak boleh dipisahkan, bukan hanya untuk kaum lain. Itulah ciri-ciri dalam polisi Pakatan Rakyat.

Anonymous said...

Tell all these so called Dayak leaders to go and fly kites.They had all the times to bring remedy to their community plights but all they ever did was to abet Taib and to personally enriched themselves.

Whatever advices and cajoling they utter were merely a sceenshield to protect their ill gotten wealth at their community expense.Who will believe in them now?

Anonymous said...

Permit me to issue just 1 simple challenge to all the Dayak voters especially in the rural constituencies. When do YOU all start to emulate the classic example shown by the voters in SIBU recently in that by-election despite the PM and the top guns visiting the town 4 times before polling? And you all know what was the result. Stop grumbling like old grandmothers. Like they say, walk your talk. Or do you all get carried away and sell your souls away to Pek Moh, Jabu & Masing for a mere RM200 and a few crates of beer on the eve of polling?
malsia1206

Unknown said...

"...and polish balls"

Very well said there.

Ganeng said...

I am very impressed and touched by how Baru Bian fights for the NCR landowners.
As for our native leaders in BN, shame on them. They would hoodwink our rural folks into supporting BN in the name of "development." What development are they talking about when after 47 years many kampong still do not have basic amenities like tap water and electricity.
The rural folks are led to believe that development fund is "perintah money." Hey..its our hard-earned tax money.
We all need to educate our rural folks on this NOW.

Anonymous said...

One Baru Bian is worth all the current useless Dayak ministers in Taib's cabinet. They are all fat cats who had taken the Dayaks for a ride by enriching themselves and don't give a damn to what happens to their fellowmen. All they talk is race and yet look at how pathetic they all are, sucking it to Umno their master. Mawang has been in power for so many years so tell us what had he done for Dayaks? All he did was polishing Taib's apple like Jabu and Masing so they too can get some scraps thrown down to them by Taib. I'm not a Dayak but I will certainly vote for Baru because he is not a Dayak leader but a Sarawak leader.

Anonymous said...

It's very difficult to get out the foremost issues to rural folks, especially Dayaks on those immediate ones on poverty real or relative, education and health and public services.

There's an interview on Radio Free Sarawak Episode 11, about how the dangers of a decadent public service can bring untold miseries to rural folks.

We have to get across the message to rural folks about their RIGHTS to public services, their rights to a livelihood and their lands and make them more brave by knowing these.

The stories and interviews on Radio Free Sarawak are encouraging. Let's hope these get to the kampung folks, if they havent thrown away their radios for TVs!

-ctzen-

Apai Semalau said...

Sarawak first before race! Way to go Baru Bian. We see the attributes of our legendary Rentap in you. We shall overcome with you in the lead. Those Sarawakians who have conscience will vote for you because we have had enough of BN crooks raping the state at the expense of the rural poor!!!

Anonymous said...

damn everywhere,once the water level go up,all the NCR LAND will "drawn" and the new land will be whose land? So where the Kpg people will stay? Under the water? Floating? or learn to grow a tail so that can stay on the tree? A very well pan to rob our NCR LAND.So make your move correctly.