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Extracted from Malaysiakini
Iban village
chiefs remanded three more days
Oct
6,
Three Iban village chiefs and three village development and
security committee members from Semada, near Serian, about 60km from Kuching, have been remanded for another
three days for alleged arson of a plantation workers’
quarters.
The six – Buda anak Ganja 57, and Rocket anak Manggi 42, from Kampung Semada Mawang, Tagong anak Guyang 63, and Munjut anak Rentap
45, from Kampung Semada Belator and Bayang anak Nanang 70, and Nanta anak Kilom,52, from Kampung Semada Tengah – were produced
before Serian district court magistrate John Ilus yesterday afternoon.
The magistrate allowed
police request for further remand but only for another three days (until
Monday) pending completion of police investigations into complaints the six had
allegedly torched the living quarters of Indonesian workers engaged by a
plantation company DD Plantation Gedong Sdn Bhd.
They were arrested last Sunday following complaints received from the company
and detained overnight at the Tebedu police station.
They were
brought to nearby Serian when the magistrate
made a three-day remand order.
Yesterday afternoon the six, all handcuffed, were brought in a police van to
appear before the magistrate in the presence of NGO lawyers Dominique Ng Kim Ho
and See Chee How from Kuching.
The remand prisoners could not contain their emotions as they were met by
relatives at the district office.
They told their lawyers that they insisted on their rights to the land on which
they and their fathers and grandfathers had lived on and cultivated for a long
time.
They said they would continue to do the only right thing by defending their
rights because the company was encroaching onto their native customary rights
land.
Munjut anak Rentap
told Malaysiakini while waiting to be produced before
the magistrate that the kampong people had held six meetings with the company’s
representatives to try and resolve the problem.
Backing
from villagers
Two of the meetings were held at the district office,
he said, adding that the company had failed to keep its end of the bargain.
Representative of several Dayak-based NGOs were also present at
the district office.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, Ng, who is also state PKR chief and
state assemblyperson for Padungan, said he asked for
the remand prisoners to be released immediately but police told the court they
still needed to take more statements from the villagers.
Other villagers present told the six the villagers were all behind them
and urged them to keep their spirits high at all times.
DD Plantation Gedong is a company in which two state
assistant ministers have interests in and has been given a land grant over a
large area that the Iban community in Semada
claim encroach onto their NCR land.
Meanwhile, it is learnt the company has obtained a court injunction to stop the
Ibans from entering the land.