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Extracted from Malaysiakini
Oct 4,
Iban
villagers from 11 longhouses in Pantu, Sri Aman Division, have claimed that the
burial grounds of their ancestors are deliberately being desecrated by a
plantation company.
According to them, this is an attempt to remove an
important piece of evidence that proves their native customary right (NCR) over
the land.
“Not
only will burial grounds be bulldozed, they have already been bulldozed!”
claimed their spokesperson Jacob Emang (left) today.
He was responding to Barisan Nasional (BN) state
assemblyperson for Bukit Begunan, Mong Dagang, who reportedly said that native
burial sites will not be destroyed.
“The government will ensure that the development of NCR
land respects the burial grounds,” he added.
Mong also lashed out at those opposed to development of
NCR land who ‘would stop at nothing’ to cast unfounded fears among the natives.
Destroying evidence
However, Emang painted a different scenario.
He claimed that workers of a peninsular Malaysia-based
company had planted some 50 oil palm trees at the Kampung Tekuyong/Uban
graveyard.
They had allegedly tried to do the same at the Pendam
Angkong cemetery in Bukit Tunggal but were stopped with help from the district
officer, Land and Survey Department and the police.
Emang said the company was also fined by the district
office.
According to him, the workers were also prevented from
demolishing a third burial ground in Aping.
He said all these incidents took place this year, with the
latest two months ago.
Their lawyer, Dominique Ng Kim Ho, who visited the sites,
said the villagers suspect that the burial sites are deliberately being
targeted.
“It is one of the proofs required of the natives to
establish customary rights on land. If the evidence is removed, the claimants
might have a harder time to prove NCR,” he added.
Under Section (2)(b) of the Sarawak Land Code, one of the
methods to establish recognition of NCR on land is 'the use of land for a
burial ground or shrine’.
Restrictive option
The plantation company is in a joint venture with a state
agency, Sarawak Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA), to develop an
oil palm plantation on 3,900 hectares of NCR land in the Pantu area.
Plantable area in the Pantu area covers about 7,000
hectares, but it is learnt that because many longhouses have not agreed to
participate in the joint venture on a 60:30:10 equity formula (company 60
percent, NCR landowners 30 percent and LCDA 10 percent), the area has been
reduced to less than 4,000 hectares.
The Ibans in Aping, which is adjacent to the area being
developed, have launched their own smallholders oil palm scheme, with 300
hectares already cleared and planted.
The scheme involves some 37 families and has not received
any government subsidies.
BN MP for Sri Aman Jimmy Donald, whose constituency covers
Pantu, told malaysiakini today that NCR landowners have a choice whether to partner with
investors or to start an oil palm scheme on their own on NCR land.
“There is no compulsion,” he said.
Commenting on this, Emang said the 60:30:10 equity formula
is restrictive, rigid and does not give NCR landowners room to negotiate or
bargain.
“We should have a choice to decide whether to go with
government land agencies like LCDA, Sarawak Land Consolidation and
Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) and the Federal Land Consolidation and
Rehabilitation Authority (Felcra) and accept only the best terms in joint
ventures, if NCR landowners do not intend to go on their own to develop their
land.
"We do not see the logic in LCDA having the 10
percent as managing agent if we ourselves have the capacity and the resources
to do the same, and when we are given no say in the management inspite of
holding 30 percent equity in the joint venture,” he added.