KUCHING: It’s a perennial tale of Sarawak natives battling for their land against corportate outfits and the state government. Taking a stand on Wednesday, 80 representatives from three longhouses turned up at the Kuching High Court to face BLD Resources Sdn Bhd. The much anticipated trial of the residents of Rumah Ranggong longhouse against BLD Resources, the Sarawak Land and Survey Department and the Sarawak government got off to a lively start with the representatives of the longhouse holding a peaceful demonstration in front of the court complex.
The representatives came in two buses and congregated in front of the court complex at 9am. They held a short demonstration before proceeding into the court house where the trial started at 10am.
Three witnesses from three neighbouring longhouses were called to testify and acknowledged the existence of the native customary rights (NCR) claims of the residents of Rumah Ranggong and their communal boundary between them.
The three witnesses are Tuai Rumah Belili anak Liom from Rumah Belili, Buak anak Jenau from Rumah Ampau and Tuai Rumah Umpor Anak Lunsa from Rumah Umpor.
At 4pm, the trial was adjourned. The next hearing was set for Jan 24 –28, 2011.
Sued for trespassing
In 2008, BLD Resources sued Changgai Anak Dali, an Iban, for allegedly trespassing into BLD's plantation.
Changgai disputed this suit saying that he and the residents of Rumah Ranggong have NCR over the said land.
In 1999, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between BLD Sdn Bhd (sister company of BLD Resources), Sarawak Land Development Board (SLDB) and the NCR landowners at Ulu Niah, where Rumah Belili and Rumah Ranggong were the participating longhouses, to develop the Ulu Niah NCR land based on the joint venture project called “konsep baru”.
However in 2008, Changgai and his fellow villagers discovered to their horror that their NCR JV project was cancelled - reason given was the government made a mistake saying the land is NCR.
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu and the then Sarawak Minister for Housing Celestine Ujang handed out the 10% upfront payment worth RM294,990 in 2001 to the participants of the scheme.
The promised dividends or bonus payments for the participants of the scheme were not paid until 10 years later when the residents protested against BLD's suit.
In 2008, Jabu in an attempt to pacify the angry villagers handed a cheque amounting to RM436,708.20 in dividends and bonuses to 226 participants of the Ulu Niah NCR Joint Venture Project.
However, the suit made by BLD against them was not withdrawn and worse still, the state government does not recognise the land as NCR.
In court on Wednesday, Judge Albert Linton presided while Harrison Ngau Laing represented the Plaintiffs headed by Changgai Anak Dali and a few others from Rumah Ranggong.
George Lo represented the first defendant, BLD Resources Sdn. Bhd. and Joseph Cheoh represented the Sarawak Land and Surveys Department and the Sarawak State Government.
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