Change We Must

He should be voted out as soon as possible. We have not seen how much he has done for the good of his own community especially in recent times. But in the past three months, we have read in the main stream media, how he intimidate and blackmail the Dayak Community to continue supporting his UMNO-Barisan Nasional who have done little, except to enrich those who walk in the corridors of power.

Bidayuhs are no loss to Barisan Nasional if they decide to go for the opposition. This was the warning issued by a Sarawak Cabinet minister to the state’s second largest indigenous population.

Than what are Bidayuh’s waiting for? Just walk out. Resign from PBB, SUPP and SPDP and join the Pakatan fold. To the voters, get ready to show Manyin the broom if he ever step foot to campaign.

According to Infrastructure Development and Communications Minister Micheal Manyin, the loss of the six state and three parliamentary seats held by Bidayuhs would not affect BN in any way.

“Even if the BN loses all the six (Bidayuh) seats in the coming state elections, it will not affect the party because there are 71 state constituencies. These seats are not vital for BN to retain its power,” he said.

There are some 160,000 Sarawakian Bidayuhs living predominantly in the Lundu, Bau, Penrissenin Padawan, Siburan and Serian.

Manying’s stinging warning to the community was capped with the threat of ‘no development’ in these constituencies if BN loses.

“If Bidayuhs don’t support BN and the coalition loses the seats, then the whole community will lose out on the development. BN will not continue its work here,” he told villagers at Kampung Taee near here over the weekend.

The money do not belong to UMNO-PBB-Barisan Nasional or Michael Manyin. If that is the case, than all Bidayuh’s should stop paying taxes to the government or even bother to contribute to KWSP. Join my “Non Tax Paying Citizens Club”. Why should you pay taxes that support leaders and ministers like Michael Manyin?

He also urged the villagers not to be conned into believing tales spun by the opposition, especially the PKR.

He said PKR had been against the government’s move to carry out perimeter survey on Native Customary Rights (NCR) lands.

It is PBB-PRS-Sarawak Barisan Nasional who are against. For umpteen years, SNAP and Dayak NGOs have made calls to the authorities to have all NCR Land Surveyed. It is only after the recent visit to Long Lama by PM Najib that RM20 million was allocated to PBB-PRS-Sarawak Barisan Nasional to survey the NCR Land. With that, every-one starts talking and Alfred Jabu quickly added that only “Matured NCR Land” will be surveyed!

All voters from the Dayak Community should be aware that, it is because of the imminent threat of losing power, that PM Najib and UMNO-PBB-Barisan Nasional extended the grant of RM20 million to acede to the request of leaders in SNAP, PBDS (among them Datuk Daniel Tajem, Lawyer Anthony Sujang) to survey NCR Land boundaries. It was never done on the initiative of our Ministers in PBB or Michael Manyin and his gang!

Manyin, who is also Tebedu assemblyman, alleged that PKR had insinuated that the perimeter survey on NCR land was being carried out for his personal benefit.

“We are carrying out perimeter survey on NCR land for the benefit of the people. How do I benefit from this exercise?

“If the people have land titles, they can then mortgage it and venture into businesses,” he said adding that he was aware that PKR was actively instigating the local Bidayuh communities into believing that BN was not serving them.

Free Malaysia Today

Before the project even got of the ground, Sarawak Barisan Nasional is beginning to treat the funds as their own.

While this is Political Blackmail, it is high time, Sarawakians of whatever races rise and start telling this morons to go take a hike. We are not beggars. We are not here to serve this morons interest. Instead, we should tell this morons, if you can not serve, we will vote you out. And this is a must do thing to Save Sarawakians from further oppression.

NCR land surveys: S’wak minister gets ticking off
PKR Sarawak chief Baru Bian today slammed the state’s Assistant Minister of Planning and Resource Management, Mohd Naroden Majais, for saying that natives can get their land surveyed only if they go through BN elected representatives.

“This is politicking. It is nonsense and very irresponsible of him to say that. If (the government) is really sincere about helping the natives, this will not be an issue,” Baru said when contacted.

Naroden had said on Tuesday that the government could not act if requests for land surveys, for the purpose of native customary rights (NCR) claims, were made via opposition elected representatives

Baru (left), who has spent many years defending native customary rights land as a lawyer, said the minister’s statement showed how little he knew about the mechanics of NCR land.

“It is the government’s duty to conduct land surveys under section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code,” he said.

“If there is sufficient evidence of ownership, the government should issue the land titles, but it has been trotting out excuse after excuse.”

The Sarawak government had previously claimed that the Land and Survey Department cannot undertake the survey work involved in the issue of land titles because of the lack of funds.

To address this, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced that RM20 million of the federal budget will be allocated for this purpose.

Shortchanging the natives
However, this announcement failed to impress Baru, whose experience in dealing with NCR issues led him to suggest that the move “is just rhetoric”.

“I have the feeling that they don’t want to conduct the surveys because they are afraid that the whole of Sarawak belongs to the natives,” he said.

Even if surveys were conducted, said the Orang Ulu lawyer, the natives would likely be shortchanged.

Surveys could only take into account the land which the longhouses sit, he said, and several cases in Sibu were testimony to this.

There was also the case of the natives forced to move out to make way for the Bakun hydroelectric dam.

“That land is not disputed. What is disputed is the land five to 10km from the longhouses, the farmland on which the natives survive on, but is likely to have been given away to someone else,” he said.

At present, Sarawak natives are embroiled in multiple legal disputes over what they claim to be their NCR land.

This has, however, been challenged by private companies with provisional leases issued by the state government.

In some cases, the natives have been assaulted or charged with trespass when they tried to defend their land.

Malaysiakini

Again we make the call to the Federal Government under PM Najib to intervene and ensure that pending completion Survey of NCR Land boundaries, all development projects and logging activities affecting NCR Land be suspended!

A court case was postponed yesterday pending an Attorney-General’s chambers decision on whether or not to prosecute two men already facing extortion charges when attempting to defend their NCR land.

According to lawyer Abun Sui Anyit, the reason is the disputed area has yet to be surveyed following instruction by the Sibu High Court in January.

The order was made in the ongoing seven-year court battle between residents of 13 longhouses in the Mukah district and Sin Yang Forestry Sdn Bhd over the land.

“The survey has not been done so the land is still under dispute. As such, the community has the right to not allow anyone to take anything away from the land,” Abun Sui told Malaysiakini.

Instead, two community members, Guai Panggai and Dio Mawan were charged in May with extortion under Section 384 of the Penal Code.

According to Guai, who is also a tuai rumah, (headman) the Iban community had in March put up a blockade to stop another company, logging contractor Bintani Maju Sdn Bhd from extracting timber from the land.

“We had lodged police reports three months prior to that but there was no action so we chose to erect the blockade,” he said when contacted.

However, the company claimed that they possess a state-issued licence to undertake the work.

In their police report, Bintani Maju alleged that Guai and Dio had told their employees that they could only pass if they pay RM500.

“This is untrue. I did no such thing. In fact, now they tell us that they want to pay us RM6 per tonne of timber extracted but I have rejected their offer and will continue to reject any offer because the area is still disputed in court,” he said.

He added that despite police reports lodged, it was the police who dismantled their blockade in March and have continued to ignore their complaints.

Assaulted and charged for making threats
“We fear for our safety. The company has hired people armed with long machetes, and have told us that we will get hurt if we disrupt their work,” he said.

A community member, Orin Lingong, was beaten unconsciousness by four men believed to be connected to the company, when it became public that he took part in the blockade, said Giau.

The tuai rumah said that eye-witnesses saw Orin being roughed up, bound and brought to the police station where the he was accused of threatening the four men’s safety.

He was subsequently charged under Section 506 of the Penal Code, for allegedly threatening to kill the men.

Malaysiakini

Is all this dispute necessary? Haven’t the poor Natives of Sarawak suffered long enough?

Merely allocating a grant of RM20 million is only a small step forward on a matter that have been raised ages ago.

Native customary land owners Nor anak Nyawai and three others yesterday won another round of victory against Tatau Land Sdn Bhd, Superintendent of Lands and Surveys, Bintulu and the state government of Sarawak, when the Kuching High Court allowed their application for an injunction until the disposal of the case.

The disputed land is described at Lots 15 and 16, Block 3 Sangan District respectively in Tatau, Bintulu.

The plaintiffs, represented by Baru Bian, are asking for various reliefs including a declaration that the issuance of provisional leases is null and void.

Additionally, they are also seeking a prohibitory injunction restraining the first defendant, Tatau Land Sdn Bhd, its servants and agents from entering, clearing and occupying the land over which they (the plaintiffs) claim native customary rights.

The plaintiffs’ application is for an interlocutory order in relation to the prohibitory injunction which is one of the reliefs the plaintiffs are asking for in the action.

In their affidavit to support their application, the plaintiffs said that their ancestors have for many generations past, until now continued to occupy, cultivate and use the land they are claiming to be entitled to under native laws and custom.

They said that they were neither aware of nor consented to the issuance of the provisional leases to the first defendant, Tatau Land Sdn Bhd which constituted the termination of their native customary rights over land covered under the provisional leases.

Towards the end of November 2010, the servants of the first defendant and the second defendant, the superintendent of lands and surveys, demolished 25 houses within Lot 16 and unless restrained 30 more houses belonging to the plaintiffs would also be demolished and at the same time the physical evidence constituting proof of the plaintiffs’ claim to native customary rights at the trial of the action would be destroyed.

The first defendant resisted the application for interlocutory injunction. The first defendant, by an affidavit filed on its behalf, admitted to being the registered proprietor of the 650 hectares of land under Lot 16 which was alienated on Dec 23, 2002 and to be developed into a new township called Samarakan.

The first defendant had through its director, one Ghazali Ismail had ascertained from the second defendant that Lot 16 was devoid of any native claims. It was asserted on behalf of the first defendant that a previous action commenced by the plaintiffs in 1999 and finally determined, Lot 16 fell outside the area which had been adjudicated to be land under native customary rights to which the plaintiffs were entitled to.

Interlocutory injunction
On Dec 18, 2008, the first defendant successfully obtained an order of possession granted by the High Court at Bintulu against persons in occupation of Lot 16 and it was conceded by the first defendant that only the fourth plaintiff was a party to those proceedings.

There was no application for stay of the order for possession. The plaintiffs were granted an ex-parte order which prevented the first defendant from proceeding to develop the township and thereby sustained substantial losses caused by the delay to the project, hence the inter-partes hearing of the plaintiffs’ application for interlocutory injunction.

In his ruling, Justice Linton Albert said that he did not think that the decision in the suit commenced by the plaintiffs in 1999 on the extent of their native customary rights over land is of any consequence because the case was in relation to land alienated to Borneo Pulp Plantation Sdn Bhd, the defendant in that case in respect of which the first defendant was not a party.

“It stands to reason, therefore, that the decision in the 1999 case did not exhaustively limit the plaintiffs’ entitlement under native customary rights and preclude the plaintiffs from pursuing what they perceive to be their rightful claim to native customary rights outside the area determined in the 1999 suit which allegedly includes the area alienated under Lot 16.

“Clearly, it did not matter that Lot 16 was outside the confines of the area determined in the 1999 suit. Likewise, the fact that the High Court in Bintulu had ruled in favour of the first defendant by granting it an order of possession did not ipso facto extinguish the plaintiffs’ claim because not only were the plaintiffs, except the fourth plaintiff, not parties to the proceedings where the first defendant obtained the order of possession, there were also difficult questions concerning complex legal issues involving res judicata and these are matters which could only be effectively determined at the trial,” he said.

Joseph Tawie @ Free Malaysia Today

We feel the same, but prefer not to pass judgement yet and give Thief Minister and his bandits the benefit of doubt.

Related Articles:

Survey of NCR Land

Deputy Thief Minister Alfred Jabu caught lying

Jabu is already salivating.
Firstly of course, this amount of RM20 million is not enough. Najib knows it and Taib knows it. They can pour RM100 million into the survey exercise and it still won’t be enough.

The truth is that survey will only solve part of the problem. And part of the real problem is the Sarawak Land Code itself, which only recognizes NCR land prior to 1st January 1958. In other words, land settled and cultivated by natives after 1958 is NOT recognized as NCR land. Natives settling and cultivating those lands AFTER 1958 are regarded as squatters and trespassers on State land.

The real problem is Taib himself.
Is Taib willing to recognize NCR land after 1958 and will the boundary survey take this into account? Will the Sarawak Land Code be amended to conform to recent court decisions or will the BN government continue to ignore the plight of the people? THAT is the issue!

Many still claim ignorance of NCR land issues, which have been harped upon openly in the mass media by Taib and his favourite(?) barking dog, Awang Tanah. These issues are also the subject of hundreds of still pending court cases. Under the circumstances, ignorance is no excuse. Najib as the Prime Minister should also not be so ignorant of NCR land issues to think that merely surveying NCR land and issuing communal titles will work.

What about the hundreds of thousands or maybe a couple of million hectares of NCR land created after 1st January 1958? Are the hundreds of thousands of natives and their descendants today who have worked, and continue to work, on these lands to be relegated to the status of squatters and trespassers?

For Taib’s perspective on NCR issues, for a start see this article at The Broken Shield

Sarawak Headhunter’s reply is here.

If anyone wants to know what it is all about, read this. That’s right, it’s all about money.

Who do you think will benefit the most from any declassification of NCR land, the Dayak “trespassers” and “squatters”?

Jabu is already salivating:

“We wish to thank the federal government for allocating RM20 million to Sarawak and the main focus will be to develop NCR land that are ready for development.”

RIGHT!

Source – Sarawak Headhunter

We are quite certain the grant of RM20 million to survey NCR Land will be wasted if it is handled by Sarawak Land and Survey Department with the interference of the Thiefs in the Sarawak State Cabinet.

On remarks made by deputy chief minister Alfred Jabu regarding native customary rights (NCR) land, Baru hoped that the government should carry out both the perimeter survey of communal native land as well as the individual properties and give them titles.

Jabu had said the procedures and system to survey and gazette NCR land had been in place for more than 30 years but it was the inability of the people to agree on the demarcation of their individual lots that had made it difficult.

Baru however accused Jabu of lying saying that the number of natives disputing the boundaries between one lot and another was very little.

“Individual disputes that his company handled are less than five or six percent. Even these disputes are not between natives, but with government, timber and plantation companies.

“More than 90 percent of the 200 cases before court are involving communal land belonging to a number of villages combined,” he said.

“How can Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and Jabu mislead the people?” he said, stressing the boundary quarrel between natives were almost non-existent.

Baru suggested that the government should begin with the cases in court in order to reduce court cases.

Free Malaysia Today

Similar to the reduction of Land Lease Renewable announced in Sibu, is not too late to implement the survey of NCR Land now that educated and more aware Dayaks are arousing the awareness of the rural Dayaks? Will this now see the day of the light?

KUCHING: It took 47 years for the government to decide to survey native customary rights (NCR) land, issue titles and return the land to the rightful owners. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak allocated RM20 million to carry out the survey works.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud should have made the announcement instead of Najib as land matters come under the purview of the state. So, why did Najib make the announcement? And why did Taib refuse all this while to survey NCR land?

Najib made the decision last week after visiting Long Banga, Baram, an interior seldom visited even by Sarawak state ministers. He must have heard about the Dayaks’ grouses after he took over as prime minister last year. To learn more about their problems, he sent his Sarawakian minister Idris Jala to seek the truth. And based on Jala’s reports, Najib announced the decision.

It not only caught state government leaders by surprise, it also embarrassed them. But Najib does not seem to care; his federal government’s survival depends on solving the problem. To continue to occupy Putrajaya, he must win over the Dayak-majority parliamentary constituencies. There are 23 Dayak majority and Dayak-mixed constituencies.

The decision puts great pressure on the state government to survey the NCR land. It must show support and react immediately.Thus, the state government issued a press statement not only to concur with the prime minister’s announcement but also to say that Taib’s government has approved a new NCR land initiative.

By Joseph Tawie @ Free Malaysia Today

continue reading…

The key points of the 10th Malaysia Plan

We take “Granting of Land Titles to Orang Asli and Bumiputra in Sabah and Sarawak” to mean NCR Land will be surveyed and issued with Land Titles.

If the Federal Government is sincere, all NCR Land Issues now subject to much violence and controversy should be suspended until a blue print is in place.

Police accused of defending Taib family’s interests
Sarawak police have been accused of sanctioning violence by a timber company, Lee Ling Sdn Bhd, at logging road blockades in Upper Limbang.

Raziah Mahmud, sister to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, sits on the board of directors of Lee Ling’s parent company, Quality Concrete.

According to indigenous rights advocate, the Bruno Manser Foundation (BMF), Lee Ling drove three plainclothes police officers, in company vehicles, to the site of the makeshift blockades across Lee Ling’s timber track near Long Sebayang on Sunday.

The police officers, one reportedly armed with a pistol, ordered the indigenous villagers manning the blockade to dismantle the obstruction and allow Lee Ling to continue extraction. One of the two blockades was taken down. According to locals, Lee Ling intends to log the area and convert the land into a plantation.

The Lun Bawang, Penan and Tabun villagers from neighbouring villages had erected the peaceful blockades in a desperate attempt to urge Lee Ling to negotiate with them over their customary land rights. Such timber blockades have sprung up all over Sarawak, and many have been torn down following police action.

Violence at blockade site
Taib’s government does not recognise Native Customary Rights (NCR) claimed by Sarawak indigenous communities over their ancestral lands, even though these rights are provided for by ‘adat’ (native customary law and practice), state legislation and the federal constitution.

The Upper Limbang villagers have made police reports alleging violence by Lee Ling workers. Yet no police investigation has been conducted, in stark contrast to the eager support of the police for the timber company.

Aking Anung, a Penan villager from Long Keneng, made a police report in Limbang, stating he had been attacked at the timber blockade by a manager at the Lee Ling timber camp named “Ah New”, on the day of the police visit. Aking alleged the manager threatened him with a ‘parang’ (machete).

Bita Pelisi, a villager standing at the blockade, gave an account of a second violent assault. He reported that “Ah New” struck him on the face and left him bleeding from the nose, after the police left. The Lee Ling worker then threatened the villagers, saying he would bring in “more gangsters to the blockade site”.

“Our communities need support and we ask you to spread this news worldwide,” appealed a community spokesperson, according to the BMF.

The BMF has called on Lee Ling to stop violence against the villagers, and “respect the communities’ legitimate demands”. The NGO has urged the police to “investigate these incidents and stop colluding with Lee Ling Timber”.

Lee Ling is controlled by timber tycoon Tiang Chiin Yew. The company, based in Kuching, is a subsidiary of conglomerate Quality Concrete, listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. Raziah Mahmud is an independent non-executive director of Quality Concrete.

Whoever is Tiang Chiin Yew, we are sure Lee Ling was founded by Tiang Ming Sing. We are also sure many Sarawkian’s in Sibu know who Tiang Ming Sing is and his rumoured connection with the Secret Society in Kuching.

Neither Lee Ling nor Limbang police have been willing to provide any comment on the Long Sebayang incidents.

Malaysiakini