Dear Friends,
Re: THE VOICE OF THE BERAWAN IN MULU'S TROUBLED PARADISE.
We, the Berawans of Long Terawan, Tutoh, Baram appeal for
support from all friends in our struggle to assert our
fundamental rights to defending our NCR land in Mulu Paradise,
which is being grabbed away by the so called Development such
as the airport, roads and the Royal Mulu Resort Hotel without
respect to recognise our rights over the land .
The luxury Hotel is being built on Berawan NCR land. The
legality of the Berawan's land claim as guaranteed by the
Sarawak Land Code has been ignored. The Chief Minister of
Sarawak's brother and sister are directly involved. This is
depriving our rights over our NCR land and our survival. One
of our Berawan elders said: "This is not development, but
theft of our land, our culture and our dignity as human
being".
On the coming 13th. December 1993, there will be a full
hearing in the High Court of Borneo at Miri between Thomas
Damit and others against the Director of Land and survey, the
Minister of Resource Panning and the Stete Government of
Sarawak for order of certiorari and to quash the decision of
the Respondents under order 53 of the rules of High Court,
1980.
This is a test case between the traditional law and modern law
on the issue of native land whether natural Justice prevail.
How far would the modern luw protect and recognisee native
customary laws on the land.
Earlier when the Berawan people sued the State Government on
the first "Action" dated 25-08-1993 to apply for an order of
leave and quash the decision of the respondents under order 53
of the rules of the High court. When the Counsel for the
Borawan made his basis of points for the application of leave
to quash the deolu1on of the respondent, the Atorney General
J.C. Fong responded that the provisional lease has not
affected NCR land. There is still an on-going adjudicating
process on the claim or Native Customary Right. In view of
that the learned Counsel for the Berawan wlthdraw the case
since NCR is pending adjudicating process on the claim of NCR.
After one month passed, no investigation on survey work has
been carried out. Our counsel wrote to the Director of Land &
Survey when would the department process the investlgation on
the land claimed. instead a letter was received by their
Counsel stated that the Berawan has no basis of claim in Mulu
area signed by the Director of Land and Survey, Sarawak. Upon
learning the contents of the letter, the Berawan decided to
sue the State Government again.
When the Berawan sued the State Government for the second
"Action" on the 5th. November 1993, the Atorney General J.C.
Fong made no objection. There was technically an error by the
Applicants'counsel of not serving the affidavit to the Federal
Atorney General(FAG) in Kuala Lumpur. The judge advised the
applicants' counsel to serve the affidavit to FAG in KL. The
judge ruled in favor of the applicants' counsel that the case
is exparte and adjourned to 13th November. However, it was
adjourned again to the above mention date.
Struggling to champion their ancestral land rights, four
Berawans were arrested last July. They were released and
charged of wrongful Restraint under seatlon 304 of the Penal
code against the Company. They were among the community action
to stop the fuel transportation into the generator tanks which
are illegally located at Lang Belarek'a land. The purpose of
the community action was to highlight the land issue and
demand the authority to give recognition and protection of our
ancestral Land which is slowly being grabbed away by the so
called development of the airport, roads and Royal Mulu Resort
which is controlled by the Chief Minister's family
We bean have hounded by unjust laws for more than a decade
when defending our NCR land against land grabbers or robbers
who refused to negotiate with us.
We appeal to your support in issuing statements expressing your
concern on the matter. Letters of concern may be sent to the
Chief Minister of Sarawak, who is also the Minister of Forest
and Minister of Resource Planning. Address to :
Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud,
Pejabat Ketua Menteri,
Bangunan Bapa Malaysia,
Petra Jaya 93503,
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Tel : +60 82 44 22 11 (office)
+60 82 25 65 58 (Home)
We earnestly call upon our Dayak Political leaders to make clear
their stance and send your solidairty messages in respect to the
issue before 13-12-93.
Yours sincerely,
Garry Hashim and Thomas Damit,
Action Committee,
Long Terawan, Tutoh, Baram,
Sarawak,
Malaysia.
--- * Origin: Asia Pacific Solidarity - Sarawak (90:600/108)--