Extracted from Malaysiakini
Bakun villagers gather to
discuss rights
Tony
Thien | Jul 21,
About 200
members of the Orang Ulu
community from six settlements in and around Bakun
dam in central
Several lawyers were present to advise villagers of
their native customary rights (
Residents
of one of the settlements, Uma Apan,
successfully applied to set aside the eviction order last Friday after a large
land and survey team from Bintulu, accompanied by police, moved into the area
to start demolishing unoccupied houses and farm huts on Tuesday.
Through
intervention, legal action and local resistance, the team stopped after
demolishing four houses, believed to be unoccupied. Several residents also
accused the authorities of selective treatment, alleging that property
belonging to one of the natives, believed to be related to a state minister,
was untouched despite being in the way.
The land
the authorities want to clear, of what they call "illegal squatters",
has been leased on a 60-year term to two plantation companies - Shin Yang and Ekran Plantation.
The
authorities also want land within a 100-metre radius of the main road to be
cleared to make way for the construction of overhead transmission cables from
the multi-billion-ringgit Bakun
hydro dam.
The
largely Kayan community affected by the eviction
notice have also appointed several lawyers to have the eviction notices set
aside while their claims on
Compensation claim denied
State PKR
assemblyperson for Padungan, Dominique Ng Kim Ho, who
was invited to attend the dialogue at Kampung Sambop, told Malaysiakini today that
what was happening in Bakun was also happening
elsewhere in
He
described it as a "land grab to deprive natives of their
According
to Ng, a Kuching-based lawyer who has handled
The
community has also taken a strong exception to a statement by state land
development minister Dr James Masing who said the
natives no longer had
A
spokesperson for the community told malaysiakini,
"There is no such thing".
Apart
from Uma Apan and Kampung Sambop, other affected
settlements include Dangang, Urun,
Bala and Koyan in Batang Belaga near Bakun.
Villagers
from Asap, about 30km away along the Bakun-Asap road who also received eviction notices, also
attended the dialogue at Kampung Sambop.
Malaysiakini was informed by a member of the Asap land action committee that they had put up resistance
and managed to prevent the enforcement team from demolishing their farm huts
and crops.
Masing,
who was believed to be in the area when the dialogue was held in Kampung Sambop, has promised to
help villagers by finding them alternative farming sites.
So far no
one from the state government other than Masing has
commented on the matter.
A state
BN leader who requested anonymity, told malaysiakini that
the problems over the native land in the Bakun area
were very serious and could blow up in the face of the state government.