Some 200 angry native oil palm growers from Kampung Lebor protested in front of the office of Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) office in Serian yesterday, demanding to know why  their licence belonging to the village’s Koperasi Lebor Baru Serian Bhd has been suspended.

To prove their point, they drove a lorry full of fresh oil palm fruit bunches that they could not sell to the front of the MPOB office. Some bunches were scattered at the foot of the staircase to the office.

Armed with banners and placards, the protesters shouted at the MPOB officers, accusing them of siding with big oil palm plantations.

After an hour of noisy protest, they dispersed when a police officer informed them that the local MPOB officers could do nothing about their problem.

The officer told them that their case would be brought to attention of higher authorities.

An MPOB officer, Mike Tomson, the told the protesters that he was not aware of the letter suspending their licence as the directive had came from the top.

Tomson said his job was only to teach them how to plant oil palm, and he advised them to apply for a licence to sell the fruits to avoid problems that may arise in the future.

Theft suspicion hits farmers’ income

In an interview, village headman Jengga anak Jeli said: "As a result of the suspension of the licence, we cannot sell our oil palm fruits to any oil mill. These fruits come from our own gardens.

"We cannot sell our FFB since last week, drastically reducing our financial means.

"Some of us depend entirely on our oil farm gardens for our daily needs, our children's education and welfare and for payment of loans," said Jengga.

He said it would not be easy to apply for a licence to sell even the fruits harvested before the suspension because of the suspicion that the farmers had stolen the fruits from the disputed plantations.

Jengga believed that the suspension came after the company lodged a report with MPOB. He received a show-case letter on July 26, 2014 from the board why  the cooperative’s licence should not be suspended or revoked for allegedly stealing the fruits from TH Pelita Gedong.

On July 31, he replied to the letter, but was still called to meet MPOB officers at the Resident's Office in Kuching to hear  their decision.

Jengga said the Kampung Lebor villages took their Native Customary Rights (NCR) land dispute case to court and won their case in the High Court in Kuching and subsequently at the Court of Appeal when the company appealed.

Defying courts' decision charge

The courts have already declared the NCR land belongs to Kampung Lebor villagers and that the  company is trespassing.

"The courts have decided that the land is ours. How can MPOB accuse us of stealing oil palm fruits from our own land?" asked Jengga.

The farmers have about 3,000 acres planted with oil palm after the High Court ordered that the land be returned to them following disputes with TH Pelita Gedong.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that MPOB had not issued a show-cause to Koperasi Lebor Baru Serian Bhd as the cooperative was not licenced under it.

The board said this in response to a report published by Malaysiakini that the native oil palm growers have been "hit  by MPOB order".

In a statement MPOB said since last year, there had been 304 police reports on the theft of fresh fruit bunches in Sarawak.

"To address this issue, MPOB issued a notice in June 2014 to remind all palm oil mills and FFB dealers in Sarawak not to buy FFB from unlicenced sources," it said.