Villagers from three Kanowit longhouses had given such permission
KUCHING: Villagers from three longhouses in Ulu Sungai Sepali in Ngemah, Kanowit have cleared the air on reports of a company logging in their native customary rights (NCR) land.
Village headmen Taboh Rimau from Rumah Taboh, Bunsu Ingkong from Rumah Bunsu and Meringai Umbin from Rumah Meringai said they had given permission to the company, and that the company had a licence to harvest timber.
Taboh said by allowing the company to harvest timber in their area, namely Ulu Sungai Sepali, the company would need to build a road, and this would be beneficial to the villagers in developing their native customary rights (NCR) land.
At present, there is no road access to their NCR land.
He said the area, with an estimated size of 550 hectares, was “pulau galau” or forest reserve belonging to the three longhouses.
However, another longhouse at the edge of the forest reserve, Rumah Juil Ajong headed by Tuai Rumah Juil, had no claim to the forest reserve.
“Before we are able to develop our NCR land, we need the help of the timber company to build the road. They need to cut down the trees first and later bring or remove the logs using the timber road or route, which can also serve as access route for longhouse residents,” he said.
“Because we lack the funds, the entire longhouse residents in our area all agreed that the company’s help in building the road was vital.
“We also agreed to allow them to extract timber from the area earlier.
“We are not going to disturb the trees belonging to the other longhouse (Rumah Juil Ajong) and we will try to avoid cutting through their land for the road construction,” said Taboh during a press conference, representing his two counterparts from the other two longhouses. They had also sent a letter to the Forestry Department chief in Kuching regarding the matter.
Prior to this, Iban community association Sarakup Dayak Iban Sarawak (Sadia) through its representative had come out with a press statement claiming that a company had intended to trespass and illegally extract timber from the Bukit Sepali area.
“In fact, Sadia or representatives from Rumah Juil had made a police report pertaining to the matter.
“Some residents from Rumah Juil had reportedly put up notices that those found trespassing into the area would be fined millions of ringgit, irrespective of whether they are individuals or companies.
“As the original occupants or residents of the Sungai Sepali area, we strongly oppose this irresponsible act (of putting notices and threats of punishment). In fact, they should discuss this matter cordially with us,” said Taboh.
“For those individuals who disagree with the company coming in to develop the land, we do hope that they don’t create any hindrance to our plans to develop our NCR land. They could also make their own boundary and mark their own land.
“We will not disturb their land or timber within their area. The company will also keep out of their land. Our only request is for these individuals to keep out of our way in trying to develop the land of our ancestors, which has remained undeveloped since the beginning of time,” Taboh stressed during the press conference.
