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Extracted from Malaysiakini
Yet another land rights dispute: Village chief held
Jun 27,
The
arrest of an Iban tuai rumah (headman) and a land rights activist is the latest of
a unending saga of native customary rights (NCR) land
disputes in
MCPX
This time the incident involved the alleged burning of an excavator belonging
to a company which is clearing land for oil palm in an area encompassing three Iban villages - Keniong, Sungai Raya and Tebuan - in the Simunjan district
of Kota Samarahan.
Two companies - Dakar Wijaya and Stuyong
Enterprise - have been given licences by the state
authorities to plant oil palm and the Iban landowners
claim that about 600 hectares of their NCR land are being taken over.
The two companies, said Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia)
secretary-general Nichola Mujah,
moved into the area a month ago and the local people have since been protesting
against the encroachment of their land.
Despite
several meetings in the district office in Simunjan
between representatives of the companies and the local natives in the presence
of government officials and warnings given against the encroachment - the
companies proceeded to begin work in the disputed areas.
There are some 350 Iban families from the three
villages - including Tebuan, which is made up of Iban converts - and they have banded together to form a
land action committee.
When workmen form the companies moved in with their heavy equipment three days
ago to clear the land, they were confronted by the Ibans
and one excavator was set alight.
After a police report was lodged, two of the natives - village head Ajan Wein and land committee
member Kudei Jampong - were
summoned to go to the police station in Simunjan
where they were subsequently arrested and detained.
Yesterday, they were brought before the local magistrate and further remanded
for four more days until Monday pending the completion of police investigation,
according to Mujah.
The Simujan area has seen much land clearing
activities and the planting of oil palm by companies with leases issued by the
state government.
This
resulted in increasing conflicts, as is happening in any other parts of
This has prompted Sadia’s Mujah
to advise the state authorities to stop issuing further leases to such
companies and to pay serious attention to the rights of natives to their land.
Mujah said that the state government must consider
the plight of those natives who have worked and tilled their land for
generations.
Presently, there are nearly 200 of NCR claims in court following the disputes
between native landowners and the state authorities and plantation companies
which are given leases throughout
