The Court of Appeal again confirmed that the
‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’ land groups fall under native
customary rights (NCR).
KUCHING:
Native landowners in Sarawak who are fighting for their NCR land rights
scored another major victory when the Court of Appeal again validated
their claim that lands under the ‘Pemakai Menoa’ and ‘Pulau Galau’
groupings are indeed native customary rights (NCR) land.
A senior NCR lawyer here, Baru Bian said the verdict disproved the
stand of the Sarawak state government as asserted by Adenan Satem, a
minister in the Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s office during the recent
state assembly sitting.
Adenan said during the sitting last month that the state government
only acknowledged ‘temuda’ land (farmland) created before January 1,
1958 as NCR land.
“Once again the Court of Appeal has confirmed that ‘pemakai menua’ and ‘pulau galau’ are NCR lands.
“This was held in a decision handed down on Thursday in two appeals which were heard together,” Baru said in a press statement.
Bian who is also state PKR chief, said the native landowners had at
the trial in Sibu High Court claimed amongst others for a declaration
that their NCR land included the ‘pemakai menua’ and ‘pulau galau’
groupings.
The lands in question had been included in the area of a Provisional
Lease (PL) issued to Rosebay Enterprise Sdn Bhd, ‘without’ the natives’
knowledge and had been ‘done wrongfully’ and in ‘utter disregard’ of the
native landowners acquired or accrued rights over their said NCR.
“After considering the submissions of all the parties on the evidence
and the law, the learned trial judge found in favour of the plaintiffs
(natives) and the defendants ( Rosebay) appealed against the decision of
the High Court.
“The second and thirrd defendants; the superintendent of Land and
Survey Department Sibu Division and the government of the State of
Sarawak filed their appeal under Civil Appeal No. Q01-138-03-2012
whereas the first defendant, Rosebay Sdn Bhd appealed under Civil Appeal
No. Q-02-661-03/2012,” Baru said.
He also stated that in October 2013, the Court of Appeal heard the
appeal, and the three judges led by Abdul Wahab Patail, were unanimous
in their judgement where the appeal was dismissed with costs and
damages.
The natives , Usang Labit and three others, were represented by Baru, Simon Siah, Chua Kuan Ching and Joshua Baru.
Timely victories
‘Pemakai Menoa’ is an Iban phrase referring to the territorial area
of a longhouse community where customary rights to land resources were
generated by their pioneering forefathers.
Meanwhile, ‘Pulau Galau’ is a term referring to a communal reserve
intentionally left untouched for upcoming resources by the community.
In September, the Court of Appeal sitting in Kuching ruled that
‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’ are NCR lands under the Iban ‘adat’
(customs).
The three-judge panel made its decision after hearing two cases
together, involving landowners from Serian against the Land Custody and
Development Authority (LCDA), Nirwarna Muhibbah Sdn Bhd and the Sarawak
government.
Baru, who also represented the native landowners in the cases
involving the lands in Melikin, illustrated the judgement as ‘very
important and timely’, and that it signified another triumph for the
Sarawak natives.
“This is because the state government had all these while argued that
NCR in Sarawak is only restricted to the felled area or the ‘temuda’,
not the ‘pemakai menoa’, or ‘pulau galau’ area.
The decision in September was the third judgment by the Court of Appeal after its verdict in the milestone case in 2010. -- Free Malaysia Today
No comments:
Post a Comment