Residents of four longhouses of Ulu Suai, Batu Niah, Miri have submitted a memorandum to TYT Yang Dipertua Negeri Sarawak Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin seeking his help to intervene in their dispute with an oil palm company, Mega Jutamas Sdn Bhd over a piece of land of 313.54 hectares at Lot 95.
The memorandum was submitted on 27 August 2009 to the Astana by a seven-man delegation led by Siew Choon Siak. It was received by his Aide-de-camp.
Copies of the memorandum have been extended to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, State cabinet ministers and elected Dayak representatives.
The same group also sought the assistance of the Human Rights Commission in Sarawak which promised to raise it with its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
In the memorandum they appeal to the Head of State to intervene since he has been entrusted by the State Constitution to look after interests and welfare of the people of Sarawak especially the natives including the Dayak Ibans, saying that they have exhausted all avenues to solve the dispute with the oil palm company.
“We the poor people would like the Lot 95 that we have cleared and farmed much earlier than the company need to be defended and protected,” said Siew of Rumah Rajang.
He said that they also appealed to the Head of State to tell the company and its workers not to disturb and undermine their livelihood including threatening and frightening them by using gangsters and Police.
“We also want the land be given to us in accordance with the Federal Constitution that gives priority to the natives to be given land titles to their NCR land,” he said and appealed to TYT to urge the government to stop taking away their NCR land and to revoke the provisional lease on Lot 95.
The residents of the four longhouses – Rumah Rajang Ak Sengalang, Rumah Tapu Ak Galis, Rumah Aatat Ak Pengiran and Rumah Umpor Ak Lunsa - began planting the land at Ulu Suai, Batu Niah since 1996 with cash crops and oil palm.
According to Siew, the people have lived peacefully and harmoniously until the government leased the land to Mega Jutamas in May 2005.
Several meetings, he said, have been held with the company and the government and it seemed that the company simply ignored their request and did not respect their culture and their way of life.
Siew said that they have exhausted avenues to settle their dispute with the company including seeking assistance from the State Assemblyman for Kemena, the MP for Bintulu, the Minister of Land Development Sarawak, the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
“All our efforts have failed. Now we would like the Head of State to intervene,” he said, adding: “If nothing comes out from this appeal to the Head of State, then we raise the issue at the UN forum of indigenous peoples.
“And this can become a big issue that will have big impact not only on Malaysia palm oil exports, but also on Mega Jutamas oil palm company as well as other oil palm companies in Sarawak,” he said. – The Broken Shield
Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label Ulu Suai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ulu Suai. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2
Appeal to TYT to help settle NCR land issue
Saturday, August 22
Another heartless act against the natives?
Some 24 smallholder oil palm farmers from Ulu Suai in Niah, Miri are asking Saremas to immediately repair the road that they had dug up, rendering it unusable for more than a month. The road, they said, leads from the main road directly to their farms and they use this road to transport their harvested oil palm to the nearby mill.
The farmers are from the following longhouses: Rumah Rajang, Rumah Atat, Rumah Umpur and Rumah Tapu. Because of Saremas’s actions in destroying the road, they are now unable to transport their oil palm harvests and sell their fruits. Their lives and primary source of income has now been disrupted.
Syarikat Saremas (PPB Oil Palm Sdn Bhd) is a company that also owns oil palms in the Ulu Suai, Niah area. On 14 July 2009, the company started digging up and cutting off the farm road in question.
The villagers feel that they have suffered many losses. On 14 July, the village headman, Tuai Rumah Tapu, also a farmer, made a police report in Batu Niah against the company. They have also appealed to the company however the company has refused to entertain their appeal. They say that the manager initiated the action on a directive from the top management, which suspects the villagers of stealing from the company’s plantations.
According to Siew Choon Siak of Rumah Rajang, Suai, one of the farmers’ representatives, “Saremas may have been acting all this while together with another oil palm company, Megajutamas to pressure the village people into giving up and selling their land to that said company.”
“But we did not suspect that Saremas was connected with this land case until our gardens were destroyed and our livelihoods lost.
“The villagers themselves tried to fill in and repair the road on 13 August 2009 but on 14 August 2009, the heartless Saremas dug up the road again”, he said.
Village head, Tuai Rumah Rajang, appealed to government representatives and other authorities to help them resolve the issue between the company and the villagers.
According to him, “If the problem is not resolved quickly, the livelihoods and daily income of the longhouse would be affected as this is our only source of income.”
Punai anak Beriak of Rumah Umpur and a committee member of the Rural Women’s Association of Sarawak (WADESA) also expressed her dissatisfaction with the company’s action. She appealed to the company to not be so cruel and destroy the lives of the villagers.
She said, “This is the only money from the smallholding that allowed our families to send our children to school.”
Jelita anak Bum from Rumah Atat said, “This whole month we were not able to harvest our fruit and all our hard work and income was destroyed because they destroyed the road.”
Amy Alus from Rumah Tapu hoped that the government or top representatives would be able to solve this problem quickly. She was concerned that this oppression by the company would result in a repeat of Ulu Niah history. She did not think the longhouse villagers would be problematic but they were now getting desperate.
According to them, a few months before, Megajutamas had also closed the road of the longhouses in the Ulu Suai area.
Siew, who is also a committee member of the Sarawak Native Customary Land Rights Network (TAHABAS), said that the prior land conflict with Megajutamas started in 2005 and has still not been resolved until today. He said that Saremas deliberately instigated a new problem for the villagers and villagers feel that they do not respect their native rights.
Siew also feels that the problem is not being handled sensitively by a government that carries the PM’s slogan ‘1Malaysia, Nation first’. Government representatives are aware that the community does not want the commercial oil palm company to enter into their communal land area because the company does not respect their rights as indigenous peoples (Orang Asal).
“We want our rights to be respected. We are against all suppression of our rights”. – The Broken Shield
Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com
The farmers are from the following longhouses: Rumah Rajang, Rumah Atat, Rumah Umpur and Rumah Tapu. Because of Saremas’s actions in destroying the road, they are now unable to transport their oil palm harvests and sell their fruits. Their lives and primary source of income has now been disrupted.
Syarikat Saremas (PPB Oil Palm Sdn Bhd) is a company that also owns oil palms in the Ulu Suai, Niah area. On 14 July 2009, the company started digging up and cutting off the farm road in question.
The villagers feel that they have suffered many losses. On 14 July, the village headman, Tuai Rumah Tapu, also a farmer, made a police report in Batu Niah against the company. They have also appealed to the company however the company has refused to entertain their appeal. They say that the manager initiated the action on a directive from the top management, which suspects the villagers of stealing from the company’s plantations.
According to Siew Choon Siak of Rumah Rajang, Suai, one of the farmers’ representatives, “Saremas may have been acting all this while together with another oil palm company, Megajutamas to pressure the village people into giving up and selling their land to that said company.”
“But we did not suspect that Saremas was connected with this land case until our gardens were destroyed and our livelihoods lost.
“The villagers themselves tried to fill in and repair the road on 13 August 2009 but on 14 August 2009, the heartless Saremas dug up the road again”, he said.
Village head, Tuai Rumah Rajang, appealed to government representatives and other authorities to help them resolve the issue between the company and the villagers.
According to him, “If the problem is not resolved quickly, the livelihoods and daily income of the longhouse would be affected as this is our only source of income.”
Punai anak Beriak of Rumah Umpur and a committee member of the Rural Women’s Association of Sarawak (WADESA) also expressed her dissatisfaction with the company’s action. She appealed to the company to not be so cruel and destroy the lives of the villagers.
She said, “This is the only money from the smallholding that allowed our families to send our children to school.”
Jelita anak Bum from Rumah Atat said, “This whole month we were not able to harvest our fruit and all our hard work and income was destroyed because they destroyed the road.”
Amy Alus from Rumah Tapu hoped that the government or top representatives would be able to solve this problem quickly. She was concerned that this oppression by the company would result in a repeat of Ulu Niah history. She did not think the longhouse villagers would be problematic but they were now getting desperate.
According to them, a few months before, Megajutamas had also closed the road of the longhouses in the Ulu Suai area.
Siew, who is also a committee member of the Sarawak Native Customary Land Rights Network (TAHABAS), said that the prior land conflict with Megajutamas started in 2005 and has still not been resolved until today. He said that Saremas deliberately instigated a new problem for the villagers and villagers feel that they do not respect their native rights.
Siew also feels that the problem is not being handled sensitively by a government that carries the PM’s slogan ‘1Malaysia, Nation first’. Government representatives are aware that the community does not want the commercial oil palm company to enter into their communal land area because the company does not respect their rights as indigenous peoples (Orang Asal).
“We want our rights to be respected. We are against all suppression of our rights”. – The Broken Shield
Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com
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