Extracted from Malaysiakini

 

Bakun villagers gather to discuss rights

Tony Thien | Jul 21, 08 4:23pm

 

About 200 members of the Orang Ulu community from six settlements in and around Bakun dam in central Sarawak gathered at Kampung Sambop on Saturday to discuss ways to adopt a unified stand to stop their ancestral land from being taken away from them.

 

Several lawyers were present to advise villagers of their native customary rights (NCR) after the authorities obtained a court order last year to evict them from land they claim was being illegally occupied by the natives.

 

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 NCR are being pursued through the courts.

 

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 Sarawak.

 

He described it as a "land grab to deprive natives of their NCR land in order to promote the oil palm industry".

 

According to Ng, a Kuching-based lawyer who has handled NCR cases, the people of Kampung Sambop settled on the land more than 130 years ago. He also pointed out a Sarawak government gazette dated Aug 1, 1882 detailing the existence of the village.

 

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 NCR because they had been compensated and their rights had been subsequently extinguished.

 

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.