I would like to add some further relevant comments regarding malaysiakini's excellent exposure of the horrendous problems facing the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra).

I manage a very small agricultural company and have been looking to acquire a further 60 acres of land for expansion. For a small private sector enterprise, the use of mixed zone land for agricultural purposes is very inefficient indeed because of the price that has to be paid for mixed zone. Accordingly, I have been examining if we can either 'purchase' or lease some native customary rights (NCR) land for our expansion.

I have been shown some very nice and suitable NCR land but during my meetings with the Dayak owners, I expressed my concern that maybe Salcra would come in later and try to take the land away from us after we had started our enterprise. The area concerned is one in which Salcra already has several plantations and we know that they are actively trying to expand.

I was quite amazed at the anger that this suggestion brought from the Dayak owners who said in no uncertain terms that they would never again allow Salcra to either take or consolidate their land. These particular owners told me that they had surrendered a lot of their land to Salcra over seven years ago and their first dividend received only after five years amounted to the equivalent of RM60 per acre per year!

They knew that with the current world price of oil palm, the actual profit per acre from a well- managed estate should be no less that RM500 per year and yet their dividend was little more than an insult. To a man, they blamed corruption by Salcra in which tenders for fertilisers, pesticides, transport, road repair, etc, were manipulated so that large kickbacks came to the board and management of Salcra. They named names but I will not repeat them here.

So the Dayaks that I was meeting vowed that they would never again pass their land to Salcra and were now looking to either transfer or lease their land to legitimate small and local companies that would give them good value for their inheritance and also provide some worthwhile and long-term employment for their people. All their timber has already been taken away and so they know full well that their land is the only asset they have left.

I would suggest that Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu visit some of these areas and listen to the genuine needs, aspirations and concerns of his people rather than worrying about what Anwar Ibrahim is doing or saying. For those of us in Sarawak who know, this is merely another case of Jabu having 'gone fishing' rather than doing his job.