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Extracted from Malaysiakini
Ibans who set logs on fire released
Oct 13,
The Sri Aman magistrate's court today ordered the release of the
seven Ibans from Kampung Bait, Pantu in Sri Aman Division,
They will be released on police bail pending completion of investigations. The
seven have been remanded for five days.
The group, including a tuai rumah
(village chief) Rayang anak Ringkai, is still not being charged, even though
Sri Aman police chief Abdul Hamid Bulat had indicated earlier they would be
charged for 'causing mischief by fire' once investigations were completed.
They were
taken from the Sri Aman central prison where they had been held since Saturday
evening after being arrested from their respective homes in Kampung Bait to
appear before Magistrate Maris Pagan at 9 this morning and ordered to be
released.
Their lawyer Dominique Ng who arrived at
A fuming Ng told malaysiakini:
“Obviously somebody wanted to escape...I would have revealed all the facts in
court.”
He said a gross injustice had been done to the natives for remanding them in
prison when there was no legitimate reason to do so.
No
right to enter
Ng said the Forestry Corporation had in September this year written to
Tasinimas Project Consultant Sdn Bhd, the timber company, that it had no right
to enter the communal forests belonging to the natives of the kampung as it
should be excluded from the licensed area. Further, it had no permission to
extract timber from the area.
Inspite of that, he added, the company had repeatedly ignored the
letter and went on to remove 118 pieces of logs from the communal forests
approved by the authorities at the request of the Ibans in 1989.
Immediately after their release, the seven Ibans, accompanied by Ng and their
friends and relatives, lodged a police report against the company at the Sri
Aman police station for communal trespass and theft of logs. They wanted the
police to investigate immediately.
Documents made available to malaysiakini
show the same company had 198 pieces of logs seized earlier this year by the
enforcement unit of the Forestry Corporation but later upon completion of
investigations and on the order of the State Attorney General the logs were
released on condition the company make royalty payment.
The company's camp manager's name is given as Azahari Abdul Hakim and the
contractor is Wee Bin Hui. Ng said he was told by the Ibans that an Iban
elected representative has interest in the timber licence.
Meanwhile, Bukit Begunan state assemblyperson Mong Dagang could not be reached
for comment.