“ Finally!” The triumphant cry of relief echoed for miles throughout Sabah’s Tongod community as soon as they heard the news from Kota Kinabalu High Court yesterday.

These Native Customary Rights (NCR) holders had waited 15 years for a court verdict ever since their once-verdant lands were cleared to make way for oil palm plantations.

Justice Douglas Primus of the Kota Kinabalu High Court had just issued a court order to seal the settlement agreement that was agreed upon earlier this month between the NCR holders in Tongod and several corporations as well as the state government.