From the fringe of our national consciousness, a news report on malaysiakini informs us that the natives of Sarawak are getting together in Miri on Labour Day, to discuss the 120 or so court cases they have brought against the government of Sarawak, in defense of their customary rights land.

There have been sporadic reports in the past on the same issue, without attracting much attention from the general readership. This current report will probably suffer the same fate of neglect.

To the ruling parties and their coteries of satellite media organizations, the matter of land rights for the natives of Sarawak and Sabah is bad news for their vision of good governance.

To them, the long-standing protests of the indigenous peoples of Sarawak against encroachment of their customary land by "development projects" is an unpleasant thorn-in-the-side of their official grand vision of macro-economic development. The vocal cord of this large chunk of our Malaysian population has been severed and silenced in our national narrative.