'Be fair in probe into attacks at longhouses'

Be fair in investigations into cases involving native customary rights (NCR) landowners and thugs hired by private companies logging and development companies. This is the plea to the police from Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian.

"These thugs have been hired by certain companies to take care of their activities on the ground," he told reporters in Kuching today.

"Two very disturbing cases took place last week. One happened in Meluan in Sarikei, where a father and his son were badly battered by gangsters.

"The other was a near clash between the residents of Rumah Ranggong and Rumah Belili longhouses in Ulu Niah, Bekenu, near Miri.

"The disturbing thing to me is the explosives the thugs brought along to use against the longhouse people of Rumah Ranggong and Rumah Belili," Baru (right) said.

Based on the pictures extended to him, there seemed to be two home-made dynamites brought by the thugs with the intention of causing serious injuries or deaths to the longhouse residents.

"I have been told that the dynamites are the types used in the blasting of quarry rocks," he said, adding that police seized the items the thugs left at the scene, among them parang and explosives.

Police moved in to prevented 200 parang-wielding natives from the Rumah Ranggong longhouse in Ulu Niah clashing with 100 armed gangsters, reportedly sent by oil palm company Niamas Istimewa Sdn Bhd, a joint-venture between BLD Resources Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Land Development Board (SLDB).

The gangsters, believed to be from Sibu, arrived in two buses on Feb 18 and set up camp on the outskirts of Rumah Ranggong, aiming to intimidate the natives who have been mounting blockades against Niamas Istimewa.

Baru, while commending the police for their timely action in preventing the thugs attacking the Rumah Ranggong residents, added that there has so far been no arrest of those who battered Minggat Nyakin and his son, Juan, in Meluan on the night of Feb 14.

The attackers are believed to be illegal loggers, who had been plundering their lands for years.

Minggat was left for dead on the steps of the company manager's office and is yet to regain his power of speech. His son, barely alive himself, crawled in the darkness to seek help.

However, the police detained Minggat and Juan.

The illegal loggers are believed to be operating in Sungai Rusa, in the upper reaches of Sungai Meluan.

'Reports made, but no action taken'

Minggat's wife, Jelembai, who said that her husband was not likely to fully recover, told Radio Free Sarawak:

"Everyone is so scared of these people, which is why no one normally stands up to them."

She explained that Minggat had reported the activities of the illegal loggers to the police, the Lands and Survey Department and the Public Works Department again last December, and had complained that their farm areas and roads were also being torn up by the intruders.

"However, none of these authorities showed any interest in upholding the law or defending the rights of the Iban community against the criminals plundering their lands," Jelembai said.

Baru called for a thorough police investigation into the two cases, expeditiously, especially since explosives were also seized.

"I see these attacks as threats to the peaceful and conducive environment we in the longhouses have been living in for years," he added, also expressing fears of more such attacks as more NCR lands are being given to big plantation companies by the Sarawak government under provisional leases.