Friday July 18, 2008 MYT 3:03:35 PM

Bakun natives lodge report, file injunction

By STEPHEN THEN

BINTULU: The Bakun folks whose dwellings had been bulldozed by enforcement teams from the Sarawak Land and Survey Department have lodged a police report against the department. They have also filed a court injunction seeking protection against further demolition.

Community chief of Uma Juman settlement, Tuai Rumah Patrick Keming, on Friday lodged a police report at the Bintulu Central Police Station against the department, claiming that the department had violated the rights of the community and had committed criminal acts by sending enforcement teams to blatantly destroy their homes and their farmhuts.

Keming, accompanied by a group of elders, said he is lodging the report to ask the police to investigate what the natives claimed to be acts of trespassing, criminal intimidation and use of criminal force against the natives.

"The enforcement officers from the State Land and Survey Department had forced their way into our settlement and had used criminal force to demolish our homes and farmhuts.

"We want the police to take appropriate action against the department and against the enforcement officers who had violated our rights and damaged our belongings.

"We also appealed for police protection against any further demolition and trespassing at the settlement," said Keming, who is a farmer.

In a related development, lawyer Paul Raja on Friday filed a motion on behalf of the affected Bakun folks to seek an injunction against the State Land and Survey Department, the state government and any other government or private developers from destroying any property in the area in Bakun where the natives claimed to have native customary rights.

Counsel Raja on Friday filed the motion in the Bintulu High Court complex. He is also seeking an order from the court to stop any enforcement agencies from entering these natives' land.

"I am asking for an urgent hearing so that we can get this injunction as soon as possible. This is an issue that requires urgent intervention from the court," he said.

On Tuesday, enforcement officers from the Bintulu Land and Survey branch office went into Bakun in 30 vehicles and brought three bulldozers and demolished premises in four different settlements not far from the RM6bil Bakun hydroelectric dam site.

Since then, the affected natives had staged protests and blockades in an effort to halt further demolition.

Bintulu Land and Survey superintendant Azmaen Saperi said the department had received directives from its headquarters in Kuching to destroy "illegal dwellings" in Bakun built on state government land.

The natives claimed they have native customary rights over the land because they have stayed in Bakun for the past 130 years.