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Press
Release
Villagers’ farm road
dug up and broken by Saremas
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, 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, 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
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.”
Press Statement was released by:
Siew
Choon Siak
Rumah Rajang, Suai
H/P: 0198657076