An oil palm company operating in Ulu Niah, Miri, has been accused of hiring 100 gangsters to pressure natives in the area to lift a blockade on their land.

Native rights NGO Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (Brimas) has claimed that the company had sent the gangsters in two buses to Rumah Ranggong, whose residents have barred the company from their land for failing to fulfil its promise of helping develop their land.

It is understood that the company had set up a joint-venture with the Sarawak Land Development Board to develop a plantation in the area, but natives claim the company had reneged on their promise to develop their land under the state government’s Konsep Baru scheme.

Brimas said a witness, Ramould Siew, the Sarawak Native Customary Land Rights Network (Tahabas) president, claimed that the gangsters arrived as early as 7am and set up camp on the boundary of the longhouse’s native customary right (NCR) land.

Fearing for their safety, Siew and a few longhouse residents reported the incident to the Batu Niah police station, that later sent a group of officers over to arrest the gangsters’ leader and order the others to disperse.

During the arrest, police also confiscated a few boxes containing machetes and explosives.

“The company is employing dirty tactics to scare the longhouse residents to end their blockade and protest,” Siew said.

Natives protest in KL

Meanwhile, a group of 10 Sarawakians representing the various ethnic groups flew in to Kuala Lumpur early today to stage two demonstrations demanding that the government uphold their rights as natives.

The group’s spokesperson, Willie Kajan, said they are demanding that the government scrap the Bakun dam project, that is currently being filled up for testing.

He said they also want the Sarawak government to return all the NCR land that was allegedly seized by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, and for a stop to the extensive logging activities in the state.

“Taib has been taking our land and giving it to his cronies, and the logging has taken down 70 percent of our forests. We also don’t want the mega-dam and want it scrapped,” he said after their first demonstration this morning at Central Market.

The group will continue their demonstration at Putrajaya, where they will assemble at the mosque at 4pm today.