A court case was postponed on Wednesday pending the Attorney General's chambers decision on whether or not to prosecute two men already facing extortion charges when attempting to defend their NCR land.

According to lawyer Abun Sui Anyit, the reason is the disputed area has yet to be surveyed following instruction by the Sibu High Court in January.

The order was made in the ongoing seven-year court battle between residents of 13 longhouses in the Mukah district and Sin Yang Forestry Sdn Bhd over the land.

NONE "The survey has not been done so the land is still under dispute. As such, the community has the right to not allow anyone to take anything away from the land," Abun Sui told Malaysiakini .

Instead, two community members, Guai Panggai and Dio Mawan were charged in May with extortion under Section 384 of the Penal Code.

According to Guai, who is also a tuai rumah , (headman) the Iban community had in March put up a blockade to stop another company, logging contractor Bintani Maju Sdn Bhd, from extracting timber from the land.

"We had lodged police reports three months prior to that but there was no action so we chose to erect the blockade," he said when contacted.

However, the company claimed that they possess a state-issued licence to undertake the work.

In their police report, Bintani Maju alleged that Guai and Dio had told their employees that they could only pass if they pay RM500.

"This is untrue. I did no such thing. In fact, now they tell us that they want to pay us RM6 per tonne of timber extracted but I have rejected their offer and will continue to reject any offer because the area is still disputed in court," he said.

He added that despite police reports lodged, it was the police who dismantled their blockade in March and have continued to ignore their complaints.

Assaulted and charged for making threats

NONE "We fear for our safety. The company has hired people armed with long machetes, and have told us that we will get hurt if we disrupt their work," he said.

A community member, Orin Lingong, was beaten unconsciousness by four men believed to be connected to the company, when it became public that he took part in the blockade, said Giau.

The tuai rumah said that eye-witnesses saw Orin being roughed up, bound and brought to the police station where he was accused of threatening the four men's safety.

He was subsequently charged under Section 506 of the Penal Code, for allegedly threatening to kill the men.

Both trials are set to resume on Oct 6.