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| MIRI - Over the past two days, workers from an oil palm company had ploughed their way through a plot of farmland adjacent to a longhouse of the Kenyah minority natives despite desperate attempts by villagers to stop the alleged intruders.The natives have lodged police reports against the workers for trespassing on their farms and uprooting their fruittrees but, the villagers claimed, the police were siding with the oil palm giant and even providing escorts for the workers.  Thereare about 500 Kenyah natives involved in the land dispute with the company in the Long Koyan settlement in central Sarawak’s Belaga district. Inherited from ancestors The company, a subsidiary of a Miri-based land development consortium, had allegedly bulldozed its way into a plot of land to open up an access road into areas earmarked for an oil-palm plantation. The natives claimed that the area targeted for clearing was their native customary rights (NCR) land, inherited from their ancestors, The Star reported on Saturday. The company claimed that it has been given the concession right by the State Land and Survey Department to develop the land. Long Koyan chief Tuai Rumah Nyalang Tahe has taken the Kenyahs’ problem to the Borneo Resources Institute (BRI), a community-rights group. BRI executive director Mark Bujang told the paper that the Long Koyan natives were very angry with the company for infringing upon their land.  “Thecompany workers had started clearing works despite appeals from the affected villagers. The natives said they have NCR status on the land. “They have lodged numerous police reports, but no action has been taken,” he said. Given the run-around Bujang said Tahe also claimed to have been given the run-around by the police. “Tahe was arrested on July 21 when he tried to stop company workers from entering his village. “ He took away the keys from an excavator, but the police arrested him for stealing although he had explained that he was merely trying to stop the machine from bulldozing his people’s land,” said Bujang. Company also lodged report A check with Belaga police showed that the company had also lodged a police report against Tahe and the villagers, claiming that they had hindered them from carrying out their work. Bujang urged the police and the state authorities to help the Long Koyan people resolve their problems amicably to prevent the situation from turning into a full-blown physical confrontation.- Malaysian Mirror | |||
| Last Updated on Saturday, 07 November 2009 06:07 |
