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Tony Thien
Dec 3, 04
12:23pm
Dayak-based opposition Sarawak National Party (Snap) has expressed its support
to Suhakam on its proposal to initiate a public inquiry into the intrusions of
native customary rights (NCR) land by logging and plantation companies in
Sarawak.
According to media reports, the Malaysian Human
Rights Commission (Suhakam) has described such intrusions as “very serious”.
“As a party who subscribes to safeguarding NCR land,
we wish to record our support to Suhakam for its proposal to initiate public
inquiry to solve these problems,” Snap president Edwin Dundang said after
chairing the party’s central executive committee meeting in Kuching yesterday.
Suhakam officials were in Sarawak recently to
investigate into complaints by three Bidayuh villages in Selampit, Raso Satu
and Raso Dua between Bau and Lundu against encroachment into their NCR land and
the felling of engkabang (illipenut) and durian trees by a logging company.
Malaysiakini understands that following Suhakam’s
intervention and media highlights of the complaints from the villagers, logging
activities have been halted in the areas.
Dundang also told the state government to be ‘extra
careful’ when issuing provisional leases for plantation land in order to
safeguard the interests of NCR land owners.
Provisional leases should be issued only for land
that has been confirmed as state land to avoid any unnecessary intrusions into
NCR land, he added.
And plantation lands, he stressed, should only be
given out to those genuinely interested to develop the lands for oil palm and
not for speculation and outright sale for immediate gain.
According to the government, it is estimated that
there are about 1.5 million hectares of NCR land or untitled native land
created by native customary rights throughout Sarawak.
But the Dayak community claim the actual acreage to
be three times more (one estimate puts it at five million hectares), taking
into account lands historically referred as pulau galau (community land
reserve) and pamakai menoa (territorial domain of a particular settlement).
“Pulau galau is part of pemakai menoa. This is
historical. In Baram, it is well documented,’ said Orang Ulu lawyer and social
activist Baru Bian.
Baru said the third White Rajah of Sarawak Sir
Charles Vyner Brooke, when addressing members of the Sarawak Legislative
Assembly in 1917, described to the natives the NCR land as ‘your pesaka, your darah
daging (your flesh and blood).’
And in a prophetic voice, he warned about future
threats from activities such as logging to their property and that they must
ensure they (the natives) would continue to be ‘masters of NCR land and not
coolies.’
NCR constitutes about 30 per cent of Sarawak’s total
land area that the largely Dayak community who make up about 50 per cent of the
state’s population of 2.5 million.
In the past two to three decades, much of logging and
plantation activities have affected NCR lands, leading in many cases to
conflicts with natives on the ground.
100 cases pending
According to Baru, there are about 100 NCR land cases
affected by logging, reforestation, plantation and quarry operations, have been
brought before the courts, mostly in Kuching and Miri, by aggrieved NCR
land-owners.
Baru himself is handling many of such cases against
the government in court.
He said the natives are in a dilemma because of the
definition and perception in certain quarters of what constitutes NCR land and
that, as the law stands, the onus is on them (the natives) to show proof of NCR
land ownership.
Under the Sarawak Land Code temuda (farming or
cultivated) land created before 1958 is regarded as NCR land and after that
date, the creation of NCR land from felling of trees and clearing of land in
virgin jungles requires prior approval from the authorities.
According to Baru, there is now a dispute arising
from what is the actual definition of NCR land.
“As far as we are concerned, it comprises temuda
land, pemakai menoa and pulau galau (which even covers burial grounds) within
settlements,” Baru, a Lun Bawang, added.