16 tractors torched by Iban landowners

KUCHING:   Sixteen excavators/tractors worth several million ringgits belonging to Tabong Haji (TH) were alleged to have been torched by Iban landowners early this morning.

The incident happened between Kpg. Temiang and Kpg. Keniong, Simunjan/Punda road, Simunjan.

More than 300 landowners from about 20 longhouses were alleged to have been present in the area. So far five persons have been arrested.

The majority of 300 landowners insisted of being arrested in order to show their solidarity and at the same time they wanted to be fed by the Police.

A spokesman for the landowners said that Tabong Haji and its workers have been warned not to encroach into their land and to destroy their farms and fruit trees.

Several Police reports have been lodged against Tabong Haji, but the Police have not responded to their complaints.

Two weeks ago, the landowners brought their case to the Human Rights Commission Malaysia (Suhakam) in a public hearing in Serian.

Contacted by FMT, Dominique Ng, a legal counsel for the landowners said that he was informed that 16 excavators or tractors were burnt, pointing out that it could be the work of the workers themselves in order to put the blame on the landowners.

He said that the landowner had accused the TH of relentless and illegal encroachments into their NCR land despite many protests by the natives and continued to destroy their farms and fruit trees.

Ng, the former Padungan assemblyman said that it was also the same area where Rimunan Hijau had amicably settled the dispute with the landowners in court.

Ng was their lawyer.

Several NCR land cases in Sarawak are involved TH and Pelita, many of which are pending hearing in the High Court.

Meanwhile, the Officer in Charge of Simunjan Police station was not available for comment.

The High Court rejects stay of execution

KUCHING: The Kuching High Court today (2 March 2011) rejected an appeal for stay of execution by the four defendants (Land Custody Development Authority, Pelita Holdings Sdn. Bhd, Tetangga Arkab and the state government of Sarawak) against the decision of the High court.

However, they will appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The Kuching High Court on 20 February 2011 ruled that any joint venture agreement between a non-native and native in oil palm plantation is in contravention of Section 8 of the Land Code.

The decision of the court has wide implications on joint venture agreement between non-natives and natives in the oil palm plantations.

There are more than 20 JV companies with natives may be affected by this ruling.

The Pantu natives have sued LCDA, Pelita Holdings Sdn Bhd, Tetangga Arkab and the state government of Sarawak as first, second, third, and fourth defendants respectively on behalf of themselves and 90 others.

The plaintiffs who are ethnic Ibans, natives of Sarawak, claim to be entitled to native customary rights over land in an area described as ‘the disputed are land’ in the Pantu Land district.

High Court Judge Linton Albert who delivered the judgment said that their joint venture agreement was in contravention of Section 8 of the Land Code because neither Tetangga Arkab Sdn nor TETANGGA was subsequently declared a native because it is a principle of antiquity that things invalid from the beginning cannot be valid by a subsequent act.

He said: “Section 8 (a) of the Land Code provides that ‘a person who is not a native of Sarawak may not acquire any rights or privileges whatever over native customary right".

The Court declared and ordered the plaintiffs are entitled to their claim to land under native customary rights in the Sg. Tenggang NCR Development area at Pantu.

It also declared the destruction of the plaintiffs’ respective native customary rights land by the first (LCDA) second (Pelita Holding Sdn Bhd) and third (Tetangga Arkab Pelita) defendants was unlawful and damages to be assessed by the Deputy Registrar to be paid by the first, second and third defendants with interest at 4% per annum from the date hereof until settlement.

It ordered that the first, second and third defendants forthwith give vacant possession of the plaintiffs’ native customary rights land.

Fourthly, the first, second and third defendants and their servants, agents, assignees and successors are restrained from entering, occupying, clearing, harvesting or in any way howsoever carrying out works in rhea plantiffs’ native customary rights land; and costs to the plantiffs to be paid by the first, second and third defendants to be taxed unless agreed.


The plaintiffs were represented by Dominique Ng and assisted by Datuk Seri Daniel Tajem.

BN’s Failures, says Ng

KUCHING - A Sarawak PKR leader, Dominique Ng, has attributed the rural backwardness such as the lack of basic infrastructure development in Sarawak due to the Barisan Nasional government’s decades of neglect.

“The track record in Sarawak under BN does not give room for optimism as basic infrastructure such as pipe water, electricity, tar-sealed roads, and affordable housing not to mention IT access are still lacking in many communities.

“This is against the backdrop of native NCR land dispossession, large scale deforestation and mammoth palm oil estates, the benefits of these latter are not shared by the rural communities as they deserve to.

“The rural backwardness is clearly the BN government’s decades of rural neglect,” stressed Ng, who is State Assemblyman for Padungan.

The BN government has not just put its own 2020 vision in critical jeopardy, he said, adding that it is dragging the nation down in competitiveness vis-à-vis several other countries of the developing world, not to mention the little Dragons of Asia.

Ng was commenting on the Roadmap for Government Transformation Programme (GTP) of the Prime Minister in which six key performance areas or six areas of improvement, or National Key Results Areas (NKRAs), were announced.

They were reducing crime, combating corruption, raising the living standard of low-income citizens, widening access to education, improving infrastructure in rural areas and upgrading public transportation.

Describing such a roadmap as a mirage to hoodwink Malaysians, especially in Sarawak, Ng said it will not be realized or sustained.

“Sure these are not only valid areas of concern, but also an admission of the failure of governance under Barisan National; in Sarawak, these have been the neglected areas since the formation of Malaysia.

“Yet, these are not the only fields where the Barisan National Government has either failed, or has been strong on rhetoric but poor on delivery. With respect to Sarawak, I refer to the omitted or unmentioned areas of Healthcare in the public sector, social welfare, labour rights, public administration, human rights, tourism growth, environmental protection, historical and cultural heritage preservation among others, where Sarawak is trailing far behind,” he added, accusing both the Federal and State governments of leading the people to a steep and slippery slope of decline in performance indicators in a range of socio-economic sectors. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Ng says Jabu should resign as minister

KUCHING: A State PKR leader Dominique Ng has described as farcical and negligent, the attempted denial by some senior Sarawak cabinet members, especially Alfred Jabu anak Numpang, a Deputy Chief Minister, of the findings of a federal report confirming the occurrence of rape against Penan girls in 2008.

“Jabu who is the minister responsible of Penan affairs should resign from all his posts to take full responsibility for the whole debacle which has now brought tremendous shame to the people of Sarawak,” said Ng, who is the state assemblyman for Padungan.

“The whole cabinet should tender an apology to the Penan people of Sarawak,” he stressed, when commenting on the reports of rape and sexual abuse against Penan girls and women.

He added: “The State government should immediately release the long overdue report in its entirety. It must give a just account to all the people of Sarawak and Malaysia.

“Police and court action must immediately proceed to return justice to the victims and their families,” he said, pointing out that the Police must be seen to be effective in combating crime, and public confidence in the criminal justice system in Sarawak must be restored and promoted by due promptness and effectiveness of the relevant authorities in action.

“The persecution and the sorry plight of the indigenous people of Sarawak occur repeatedly and this is a situation that cannot be tolerated by all decent Malaysians.

“State cabinet ministers concerned should be ashamed of their futile attempts to camouflage the commission of such insidious crimes against our own Sarawak people.

The international reputation of our beloved Nation and State has been severely compromised,” he said.

The occurrence of rape of the Penan girls was raised by Ng in the Dewan Undangan Negeri, Sarawak, during its November 2008 sitting after the initial exposure by the Bruno Manser Fund website in mid-September.

The Star newspaper had on 6 October reported on and confirmed the allegations based on its own on-site journalist investigation, which State cabinet ministers, MPs and State assemblymen had described the reports as “untruths”.

Even when the reports on the rape have been released and are found to contain some “truths”, there are some Cabinet ministers especially Jabu who question the credibility of the reports. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

State rights: Sarawak BN messed up ~ Malaysiakini

Taken from http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/107975

Sarawak PKR chief Dominique Ng rebuked the state's tourism minister Michael Manyin for saying that the basic rights of the state as contained in the 20-point Malaysia Agreement would be lost if Pakatan Rakyat were to form the government.

"It was the Sarawak BN that had partially traded off immigration powers as provided for in the 20-point Malaysia Agreement when the requirement for passports or filling immigration forms for Malaysians from other states coming into Sarawak was abolished in 2005," he said.

Ng, the state assemblyperson for Padungan, added: "Instead the state BN government is on record for having abused immigration powers of the state to stop opposition leaders from entering the state.

"In contrast to the BN government, a future PR government in Sarawak will ensure that the posts of director of labour, senior assistant director, assistant director and all of the senior labour posts will be filled by Sarawakians or long term residents married to Sarawakians.

"Labour interests in Sarawak can only be looked into by local officers with special understanding of labour matters," he said.


'BN abolished use of English'

Ng explained that the use of English as an official language in the state was a right clearly stated in the Malaysia agreement.

“It was abolished by the BN government in the mid-80s, much to the detriment of educational progress in Sarawak," he said.

The BN government, added Ng, had presided over the unfair distribution of natural resources.

Forty-six years after independence, the people of Sarawak are still being given 5 percent of the oil profits as royalty, though Sarawak is a major oil-producing state.

"Poverty in Sarawak is among the highest, and development of Sarawak is lagging far behind the rest of the nation," he said.

Manyin had warned the people that they stood to lose many of their fundamental rights as Sarawakians if they wanted change for the sake of change.

"I feel disturbed by some Sarawakians who call for a change of government and leadership using peninsula-based Pakatan Rakyat as their political platform.

"This is dangerous because it could result in Sarawak losing its rights as contained in the 20-point agreement when it helped to form Malaysia in 1963," he said.


Absurd claims by minister

Manyin added that some areas in the agreement were meant to give Sarawakians a head-start over their more advanced West Malaysian counterparts.

Meanwhile, Ng said Sarawak's representation in the federal cabinet had declined, especially the absence of representation from the minister's own Bidayuh community.

"Should he not first champion the interests of his own community at the federal level?

"He will not get anywhere trying to deflect the neglect of his own community by his absurd claims about a possible PR government in Sarawak in future," he stressed.

Ng assured that a future PR government in Sarawak as promised by Anwar Ibrahim, the PKR de facto leader, would respect the agreed rights of people of Sabah and Sarawak and bestow an improved level of state autonomy.

The PR government would also improve the representation of the two states in the federal cabinet by creating a second deputy prime minister to be filled by a Sabah or Sarawak Malaysian.

It will also improve the presence of officers from the two states in the foreign and diplomatic service; raise the oil royalty from the current 5 percent to 20 percent and provide a modern highway for Sarawak and narrow the development gap between East and Peninsula Malaysia.

"What is the BN government offering Sarawak in comparison?" Ng asked.

Dominique Ng arrested

BREAKING NEWS State assemblyperson for Padungan Dominique Ng was arrested tonight together with 10 Parti Keadilan Rakyat members including his wife, Lim Phang Lian.

Edil Rahmat, head of PKR youth movement in the State and a famous blogger, Lina Soo were also arrested for taking part in an illegal assembly at the Kuching Water Front when they lighted candles for vigil for democracy in Perak.

All of them were wearing “black” T- shirts.

Earlier at around 7.30 pm Police have closed all roads leading to the Kuching Water Front to stop PKR members from holding the peaceful candlelight vigil to support their colleagues in Perak.

But Ng in “smses” to all his friends warned them that they should be prepared to walk to the Kuching Water Front.

Said Ng, who is also the chairman of the PKR division in Kuching, said: “I have never seen so many Police personnel doing their duties to arrest the most dangerous ‘terrorists’.

At the time of writing, they were still at the Kuching Central Police station.