Hardcore BN supporters in 22 longhouses in Sarawak are in a dilemma after their NCR lands were re-assigned to private logging and oil palm companies without their knowledge. KUCHING: The state Barisan Nasional government under Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud does not care whether native customary rights (NCR) lands belong to its hardcore supporters or not when it comes to issuing provisional leases on NCR land to Taib’s cronies.
As far as the government is concerned, anyone’s land is good for the planting of oil palm or for logging of timber.
A police report made by the residents of 22 longhouses in the Ensebang-Melikin area, who are hardcore BN supporters, is a case in point.
They are allegedly the latest “victims” of land grabs by the Taib-led government.
Last Tuesay, their tuai rumah (longhouse chiefs) lodged a report at the Sungai Maong police station against the encroachment into their NCR land.
According to their report, about 8,550 hectares of their land have been leased to private companies.
They wanted the police and other authorities to stop these companies from taking away their land.
The natives were told by the police that they could not do anything.
Police instead advised the natives to seek the help of lawyers and to bring the companies to court.
But try as they did the natives could not find a BN-friendly lawyer who was prepared to challenge the government administration. Most feared political backlash.
No willing BN lawyers
With nowhere to go they turned to prominent NCR lawyer Baru Bian, who is also Sarawak PKR chairman.
But Bian was firm.
He told FMT that his legal practice, Messrs Baru Bian & Advocates, will take up the case on condition that the residents of the 22 longhouses resign en bloc from Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and join PKR.
According to Bian, the 22 longhouse chiefs and their followers are hardcore BN supporters who not only voted for Snowdan Lawan in the last state election but also chased out PKR campaigners who had visited them. The PKR campaigners were campaigning for candidate Ibi Uding.
Ibi said that her campaign issues were centred on NCR land and she had warned them that their land would be taken by the companies.
Some longhouses were split just because certain people were supporting the PKR candidate.
The longhouse chiefs accused the opposition of spreading lies in the longhouses, pointing out that it was not true that the state government would take away people’s land.
“How could the government take away people’s land? All these claims are rubbish,” the longhouse chiefs had retorted back.
Now 10 months after the state election, the residents are faced with the fact that lands have been encroached by logging, plantation and sand extraction companies. They want this to stop.
But with no lawyers to turn to, the natives are now in a real dilemma.
‘Not against government’
Tuai Rumah Alex Libau, who led the group of longhouse chiefs to lodge the police report, is wondering how the community is going to tackle the illegal encroachment into their land and the “robbing activities” of the companies.
What was worse, he said, the villagers who have been there for ages were considered as “outsiders” by the companies.
Armed with provisional leases, the companies chased the landowners away, saying that they were “outsiders”.
Tinsun Anchau, another longhouse chief, could not believe that their land has been leased to the companies without their knowledge even though they were “government men”.
“We are not against the government, but are angry with the companies,” he said.
He had about 85 acres of land which were wiped out so “clean” that he lost several rambutan, durian and other fruit trees.
Last month, another group led by Augustine Bagat from Balai Ringin met with the director of Land and Survey and demanded that the provisional leases given to the companies be withdrawn.
One of the companies is owned by the former Kedup assemblyman Frederick Bayoi Manggie.
About 5,500 hectares of NCR land were involved.
All these lands totalling 14,050 hectares are part of the 740,000 hectares that have been earmarked for oil palm plantation.
The marked area begins from Tanah Mawang (Balai Ringin) right to Abok in Pantu.
Joseph Tawie | February 3, 2012
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