Extracted from Malaysiakini

A deadly battle over land in Sarawak
Tony Thien

Oct 24, 05 4:44pm

Special report One of Sarawak’s greatest assets is land. It is still largely undeveloped, especially in the countryside where 60 percent of its 2.2 million population - comprising mainly of non-Muslim indigenous groups collectively known as Dayak - have settled for centuries.

It is this asset that is being exploited on a scale never before, both for timber and plantation of the so-called ‘golden crop’, oil palm.

This has led to a series of conflicts as companies given leases for oil palm plantations and logging concessions encroach into areas the indigenous people claim is theirs by virtue of native customary rights (NCR).

While NCR is legally recognised, there are no visible boundary lines due to the lack of complete surveys and adjudication. Crisscrossing these lines are Dayak longhouses and kampungs.

Most natives are subsistence farmers, planting padi, tapping rubber and growing pepper.

The Iban, who form the biggest Dayak group, call the area they farm temuda (cultivated land) and areas where they hunt, fish and collect timber as pemakai menoa (territorial domain) and pulau galau (communal reserve).

“But since the 1980s, the government has stopped approving applications for communal forest reserves,” said Raymond Abin, the executive programme co-ordinator for Miri-based non-government organisation Borneo Resources Institute (Brimas).

Such areas have shrunk from 300sq km to about 60sq km and Abin believes this is the result of the licences issued for logging and plantations.

Almost without exception all Dayak groups comprising Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu (such as Kelabit, Kayan, Penan, Berawan, Lun Bawang and Murut) are affected by logging or commercial plantation activities.

Deadly struggle

In recent years, the spotlight has been on the Iban, particularly in Sri Aman and Bintulu, as they struggle to stop companies entering into their NCR lands.

They have been arrested and charged in court for setting up road blockades to stop logging and plantation trucks. The skirmishes have also resulted in deaths.

While the exact number of provisional leases issued to companies is unknown, it is believed to be more than 200 and they are issued subject to NCR claims. This means if there are problems with NCR landowners, the investors are expected to resolve it themselves, with or without help from the relevant authorities.

Several investor companies from outside Sarawak which have purchased such leases are said to have felt cheated, as they had been told the leased land belongs to the state and as such there would not be any problems.

A case in point is in Aping, Pantu in the Sri Aman Division about 140 km from Kuching, where Johor-based investor - Tetangga Akrab Sdn Bhd - has acquired rights to a provisional lease covering a plantable area of 7,000 hectares.

The company, in a joint venture with state-owned Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA), has met with opposition from many NCR landowners who have accused the company of numerous transgressions, including desecration of ancestral graves.

Another company, with a logging permit, has been accused of stealing timber from the communal forest reserve of an Iban longhouse in Bait Ili.

These are typical examples of the growing conflicts across Sarawak between investors and NCR landowners who do not agree to the NCR land development joint venture concept introduced by the government.

Some investor companies are reported to have abandoned work in several areas either because of hostility on the ground or court action by the natives seeking injunctions and damages.

In the western and central regions of Sarawak, these cases nearly always involve the Iban, who live in some 5,000 longhouses scattered throughout the state.

The Iban originally came from what is now Indonesia’s West Kalimantan during the reign of the Majapahit empire.

They built their longhouses along riverine systems and practised shifting cultivation in an extensive and cyclical manner, mainly growing rice for personal consumption.

They still keep the temuda (cultivated land) which is not only confined to growing rice but also planting of rubber and fruit crops.

The temuda land is recognised by the government as NCR land but the Iban also claim NCR on land areas beyond the temuda, namely, the pemakai menoa and pulau galau (territorial domain and communal reserve respectively).

It is because of the different interpretations of what constitutes NCR that has led to the conflicts.

Conflicting figures

According to Iban lawyer Kilat Beriak, there are conflicting figures being quoted for the actual size of NCL (native customary land).

To the Sarawak Land and Survey Department, NCL totals 1,628,699 hectares, of which 168,845 hectares or about 10 percent have already been adjudicated.

The department has the capacity to survey and adjudicate 10,000 hectares per year and at that rate it will take three centuries to complete the survey, adjudication and issuance of titles, if the Iban community’s own interpretation of NCL is accepted.

Because of the different interpretations of what constitutes NCL, the Ibans have disputed the government figures, arguing instead that NCL is somewhere in the region of three million hectares based on aerial photos taken before 1958.

With the Dayak making up nearly 50 percent of Sarawak’s population, this means each individual from the community is a potential owner of about 30 hectares of land, making him or her a millionaire.

Apart from taking legal action, many NCR landowners have also referred their cases against logging and plantation companies to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

A Suhakam official told malaysiakini that despite the displeasure of the authorities, it is the commission’s duty to refer such cases to the government and find amicable solutions.

“It is disappointing the authorities seem to avoid the issues and prefer that the cases are dealt with in a court of law,” he said.

Currently, about 150 such cases have been referred to the courts and according to lawyers handling them, more will come in the future.

Under its NCR land development concept, the government offers 30 percent equity to NCR landowners in exchange for their land being surrendered to a joint venture which the investors hold 60 percent and managing agents (such as the Land Custody and Development Authority or LCDA) 10 percent. It is a policy that allows no room for negotiation over its terms.

Many longhouses have opted to participate in such joint ventures, with the government proclaiming it aims to develop at least 400,000 hectares of NCR land by the year 2010.

On the same note, many longhouses have also decided to opt out and be on their own as in the case of the longhouse community in Aping.

Policy revision needed

In an interview with malaysiakini, Anthony Belon, an Iban community adviser and former political secretary to Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, said NCR land development was ‘good’ as it helped NCR landowners to develop their idle land to generate income for themselves as well as boosting the state economy.

“(But) we need to look at various issues related to NCR land development from the perspective of some educated NCR landowners who were accused of being anti-NCR land development and being agitators through the media,” he said.

Belon, who was also a former senior police special branch officer, touched on some of the natives’ reservations on the 60:30:10 equity participation formula.

“If we are to go by the established policy of allocating 30 percent equity for NCR landowners in the joint venture, it should also follow that NCR landowners be accorded 30 percent interest in logs extraction in Sungai Tenggang Block which was licenced to LCDA subsidiary company identified as Nadi Pelita Sdn Bhd,” he said.

But under the current policy, NCR landowners were excluded from having a share in logs extraction in the area, he added.

He said NCR landowners were also not given a fair chance to discuss and choose the land development agency they want to develop their land.

They were also not given the opportunity to propose terms of their choice for consideration and inclusion in the agreement, he added.

Furthermore, Belon said NCR landowners were not advised or encouraged to set up their own legal structure such as a cooperative society as a vehicle to participate collectively in the joint venture scheme.

He said through a cooperative society holding 30 percent equity, NCR landowners will be empowered to participate meaningfully in the scheme throughout the 60-year period of the lease.

“And by this agreement, there is a joint accountability with greater transparency in the implementation as well as in the management of the scheme,” he added.

He felt that the current policy of assigned by the individual landowners to LCDA, the NCR landowners participation in the scheme becomes ‘superficial’.

“The policy and system make NCR landowners mere receivers of profits and dividends other than contractors and/or paid employees. They are not ‘developed’ (through their cooperative society) to become co-planners, co-implementers and co-managers in the process,” he said.

Belon added that the reversion of the NCR land to the owners, or owners-in-title, should be automatic after the 60-year period.

“Until the issue of automatic reversion is legally assured, there are uncertainties as to the NCR land ownership after the 60-year period,” he pointed out.

Due to his, Belon said the NCR land development policy must be reviewed as some adjustments and changes were necessary.

As for policy reversion discussions, he stressed that NCR landowners themselves or through their nominated representatives should be active participants.