The recently amended Sarawak Land Code (Amendment) Bill 2000 does not recognise indigenous rights over customary land, said a group of seven non-governmental organisations today. They called on the Sarawak state government to review the bill.

They claimed that the bill, which was passed on May 9 by the Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak, offered no clarification or explanation to address the doubts of natives in the state as to the protection and preservation of their customary rights and practice over their ancestral land.

"Contrary to their wishes and aspiration, the passage of this Land Code (Amendment) Bill further restricts the indigenous communities to their claims for native customary rights over their land and enables the state government to extinguish such customary rights with greater ease," the group said in a press statement released today.

The seven NGOs are Borneo Resource Institute, Sarawak Community Co-operation Institute, Sibu Integrated Development for Eco-friendly and Appropriate Lifestyle, Belaga Indigenous People Development Centre, Sarawakian Access, Sahabat Alam Malaysia and the Sarawak Penan Organisation.

According to them, before the amendment, the indigenous communities could claim and prove their rights in accordance to the provisions of the Land Code and the "adat" (customary laws and practice).

The new bill further restricted the methods in the natives' claim to have Native Customary Rights (NCR) over their land.

"It will not allow them to claim rights over the 'menoa' (Iban term for ancestral domains or communities' territory), 'pulau galau' (communal forest) and 'penurip' (Penan adat of forest area for hunting-gathering purposes) or 'jelajah asal' for the Kenyah and Kayan, which are essential to the indigenous communities in maintaining their ways of living," the group said.

They added that the amendment provides for a creation of a register of "native rights" which is separate from the Register kept in the Land Office. This new register, the group said, is of little value.

"The registration is merely a record, with no conclusive prove of ownership to the land. It is therefore, not useful for any transfer, transmission, acquisition or inheritance, and bank loan purposes," they said.

Adding that the amendment of the bill will also lead to the loss of cultural diversity as a result of the denial of indigenous people's rights, the NGOs called on the government to give time for consultation with the indigenous communities, and to commission further study of the NCR land issue, as well as to open up for more public discussion.

"A sincere recognition of native customary land rights would have to incorporate the claims with the Register kept in the Land Office, with document of titles given to these landowners with land tenure in perpetuity," they said.

The NCR land has always been a contentious issue for decades and the continuing loss of traditional native land to supposed "development" such as roads, dams, logging, oil-palm plantations, and other mega-projects surfaced more prominently after the indigenous people continued to take more direct actions to protect their land.

Actions such as symbolic blockades and protests continue to surface after the affected communities receive no response from the authorities and companies concerned to request for dialogues.