DAP's sole elected representative in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly yesterday claimed that the on-going conflict between native customary rights land (NCR) owners and plantation companies and other land developers has continued to deteriorate over the last year.

Lands which were resided by the natives after 1958 continued to be disregarded by the government as native land, the state assemblyperson for Kidurong Chiew Chin Sing said during the debate on the Supply Bill 2003 on Wednesday.

"The government may say it is state land. But to the natives and to their understanding and the practice of their own adat (custom), they (the natives) say that it is their land."

He added: "It is not ignorance of the law but a conflict of two value systems, where according to the adat of the natives, and for hundred of years now, land which they have settled on, where they have felled trees, planted crops and fruit trees and where they have built their longhouses and established burial grounds, the land becomes their farming land," Chiew said.

"The livelihood of the natives and everything else depends on it."

"To many, the land is all they have in their possession, it is their lives. If they lose their land, they lose their livelihood, their way of life, their cultures, their everything. Therefore, we cannot just simply say that their staying there (on the land) is illegal."

State land

"But because the land law has it that all lands which are settled after 1958 are not NCR land anymore, they are state land. And the government has to-date earmarked these lands and alienated large tracts of the lands to plantation companies, some in the tens of thousand of hectares and others in thousand of hectares."

"The companies having been alienated the lands have moved in to start work but only to find themselves facing angry opposition from the natives."

Chiew claimed many of these lands have not been even surveyed prior to their alienation to the various companies.

"Dispute and bloodshed can, in many cases, be avoided, if the voices of these natives are heard, and if the land is surveyed before being alienated.."

The DAP assemblyperson said the native adat is an evolution of the history of Sarawak natives themselves which last to this day.

"It incorporates the traditional values, beliefs and cultures of the natives and deserved to be honoured and respected. It cannot be written off just because it does not fit into our new way of doing things, but rather how we should try to understand, practise, live and work around it so that it can be mutually beneficial for our co-existence."

Conflict must stop

But, on the other hand, the companies which have now acquired the land and also invested in millions of ringgit, are naturally anxious to move in as quickly as possible "and we can understand that too."

"We cannot allow the conflicts to go because eventually we are all going to lose out, whether it is the natives, the plantation company or the people of Sarawak and our economy."

Chiew said a responsible government cannot just leave it to the natives and the company alone to resolve their conflicts on the ground.

"We have had cases where conflicts ended in bloodshed and we must never let that happen again."

He added: "So the government should not just wait and see what happen or resort to the most convenient means of bringing in the police or the armed forces to resolve serious conflicts on the ground. We have to take the initiative in trying to solve the problems and I believe there is a better and more amicable way to resolve it. The question is whether we want to do it or not or whether we have the political will to do so."

Give-and-take spirit

Chiew said not only Dayak natives themselves are demanding that respect be accorded to owners to the NCR land.

"One Chinese man has even told me the natives are the ancestors of this land so we cannot just chase them out like that and that we can work things out given a spirit of give-and-take on both sides with the help of the government."

The DAP member said: "Residents of the longhouses at Similajau, Bintulu, who had stayed there for more than two decades, now had their land marked and boundaries identified. This is after a Kuala Lumpur-based plantation company, Austral Plantation, moved into their traditional farming land.

"While the longhouse people continue their traditional livelihood on the same land and still live in their same longhouses, the plantation company goes on with their palm oil plantation activities."

He said this would present a case where a solution could be worked out where both parties could mutually recognise and respect each other's rights and needs.

The DAP member therefore urged the government to give the longhouse people the due recognition now by acknowledging their rights over their lands "under whichever new or appropriate category of land name."

Similar cases

According to Chiew, there are other cases similar to the Similajau case throughout Sarawak .

At the Bakun Road in Bintulu, there is some conflict between two longhouses and (Malaysia-Japan joint venture in middle-density fibreboard manufacturer) Daiken and ( government agricultural research agency) Mardi respectively.

"And now at Rumah Jenap Mile 6 Jalan Bintulu/Miri, two plantation companies have come in and carried out boundary surveys, claiming the land as theirs!'

Rumah Jenap, according to Chiew, has been around in the area for decades, its inhabintants faithfully obsrving their 'adat', tilling their same farm lands and looking after their fish ponds.

"The longhouse-folks need the lands to farm. I hope that an amicable solution can be found between the natives, the company and the government so that no one will have to lose out but for all to gain from the land development programmes."

Chiew said the longhouses along the Bintulu-Miri road have been around for decades and should, therefore, be given the rightful recognition and acknowledgment of their rights over their lands.

Land titles

"This can be in the issue of land titles to comply with the long-time wish not only of the longhouses in Bintulu Division but also many similar cases throughout Sarawak."

Chiew said if there is an instance when a development project should encounter any land problem involving longhouse people, the developer(s) should at least have the courtesy to inform the tuai rumah or the penghulu .

"Otherwise this could lead to or cause serious misunderstanding if it were not done. We know that to enter somebody's property without invitation is always frowned upon," he said.

Quoting the oft-repeated cliche, Chiew said: "It is said that when in Rome do like the Romans do, and therefore it follows that when we are among the natives, we give them the due respect."

TONY THIEN is the malaysiakini correspondent based in Kuching, Sarawak.