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Extracted from Malaysiakini
Stop logging, appeal
Tony Thien
Nov 12,
A group of Bidayuh natives from four villages between Bau and Lundu near Kuching is fighting a losing battle against the activities of a logging company on their land.
They are outraged that the authorities have issued a logging licence to the company, Malay Star, to cut down engkabang trees despite knowing that the natives enjoy customary rights on the land.
The secretary-general of local non-government organisation Sarawak Dayak Iban (Sadia) Nicholas Munja told malaysiakini that when attempts to stop the logging failed, the natives took their grievances to the human rights commission, Suhakam.
According to him, the logging company had brought in three tractors and a number of logging trucks, and had removed “a lot of logs” since it started operations in July last year.
During a meeting called by Suhakam, an official of the Land and Survey Department said the company had yet to obtain approval for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, which is mandatory for logging involving areas of more than 5,000 hectares.
A senior legal officer from the state’s Attorney-General Office also mentioned that although the Legislative Assembly had already passed amendments to the Sarawak Land Code in 2000 to provide for the annulment of native customary land rights and for due compensation, the new law had not been gazetted and therefore was not enforceable.
This revelation had taken Suhakam officials, NGO representatives and other officials present by surprise.
“If the
amendments passed by the assembly have indeed not been gazetted, there is no
legal backing for any act to extinguish native customary land rights in
“In other words, no such law can be enforced, and what the authorities may have been doing since is wrong and can be challenged in court,” he added.
Community leaders threatened
Munjan said the logging within the areas known as Rasau 1 and Rasau 2 are immediately behind the oil palm plantation developed by state agency Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra).
According to him, the oil palm plantation, now in its 20th year, is approaching what he called ‘re-circulation’ - a new round of cycle of production.
Salcra has an agreement with the local natives that it would not touch certain areas, in which engkabang trees planted by their grandfathers are to be left untouched and preserved for their future needs.
“These are the areas that are now being logged,” he lamented, adding that the natives have been frustrated by the unwillingness of some officials to take action against the logging company.
Not only their protests have failed to draw a positive response, some of the natives claim they have come under some form of intimidation when they tried to stop the logging equipment from being used.
The community leaders had removed keys of the tractors and handed them to the local police.
“However, they were instead threatened with arrests,” Munjan said.
He said Suhakam had called a meeting with top police officers in Kuching on Nov 24 to resolve the matter.
So far the state government had yet to make any public comment on the matter.
A spokesman for the affected villages told malaysiakini that the loggers had now become active at night for fear of what the villagers might do to stop them during the day.
He called on the
government to withdraw the logging licence before more damage was done to the
protected engkabang trees.