Extracted from Malaysiakini

NCR: Native landowners sue S'wak governor

Tony Thien | Nov 26, 08 4:08pm

The Sarawak Attorney-General's Office has applied to the Bintulu High Court to strike out the governor’s name from a suit filed by a group of aggrieved native customary rights (NCR) landowners.

In the application filed recently, the attorney-general stated that the governor is not the right person to be sued as any liability should be handled by the Sarawak government.

The suit filed in the Bintulu High Court at the end of 2006 is brought by Epang Anak Manau, 50, and four others, representing 75 people of Rumah Unang in Sungai Sigu, Pandan and Sebauh.

The Malaysian government, the Sarawak governor, the Sarawak government and Grand Perfect Sdn Bhd were named as defendants.

Counsel for the plaintiffs, Paul Raja told Malaysiakini the reason the governor was included as a defendant was because under Article 39 of the State Constitution of Sarawak, he (the governor) must protect the special position of the natives of Sarawak.

“We are challenging the application (to strike out) because the governor is the right  person who has been vested with the right to protect the rights of the natives,” he said.

In this case where the government allows a private company to enter upon NCR land, it infringes on the duty of the governor to protect the special position of the natives, he added.

No date has been fixed for the hearing and the case is to be heard before High Court judge Sangau Gunting.

Seeking a declaration

Grand Perfect, a consortium comprising three Sarawak-based timber conglomerates (KTS, Shinyang and Samling), entered an agreement in 2002 with the director of forest on behalf of the Sarawak government to clear and plant trees over an area totaling 320,000 hectares in the Bintulu and Balingian regions in central Sarawak.

It is the single biggest re-forestration project that is affecting hundreds of longhouses and kampungs and has caused numerous conflicts between NCR landowners and the government as well as the company.

The affected area of Rumah Unang covers thousands of hectares and Grand Perfect has already started clearing and planting in the area.

The natives filed the suit to seek a declaration on their NCR on the land.

Since then, Raja said, there has been ex-parte injunctions and intra-party injunctions but no date has been fixed yet for the hearing of the suit.