Complaints that plantation and logging activities are affecting native customary rights (NCR) land are being increasingly taken to court for resolution, said the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia).

The group, which is assisting landowners, said complaints have been filed against the state government and companies, many of which are based in the peninsula.

"Within Kuching and Sri Aman Divisions alone, 16 cases are now before the courts. The companies have either been given a 60-year-old lease or rights to extract timber," Sadia secretary-general Nicholas Mujah told malaysiakini today.

He said the complaints were about land being taken away from the owners, destruction of their crops or pollution to the environment, including sources of drinking water.

Mujah said the state government has issued provisional leases for plantations, ranging from 5,000 hectares to 12,000 hectares for each block stretching from Sematan to Saratok.

In all, about 109 cases have been filed in courts throughout the state. One, involving the largest plantation in Milikin, Kedup, is currently in progress in the Kuching High Court.

To date, judgment has been delivered in only one case, involving Tuai Rumah Nor anak Nyawai and 13 others in Bintulu. They claimed that their land originally formed part of a provisional lease issued to a a large paper and pulp company in Bintulu.

In the late 1990s, Miri High Court judge Ian Chin ruled in favour of the NCR landowners and ordered the portion claimed to be excised from the provisional lease. The government and the company have since lodged an appeal.

Water contamination alleged

Mujah noted "disposal of such cases take as long as four to five years". This affects livelihoods because the plaintiffs spend time and money to travel from their longhouses to attend hearings.

He expressed disappointment at the government's "insensitivity to the community's needs", also criticising Dayak elected representatives for not been speaking out on the issue.

"They are not community-oriented. They should be aware that land issues are most important to the Dayak."

He said human rights commissioner Dr Hirman Ritom Abdullah had visited the site of a water catchment area last week to look into complaints against a company involved in an agro-tourism project.

Mujah, who accompanied him, said this is allegedly affecting 16 of the 95 Rumah Sidu longhouse families in Entulang, Bakong.

They complained that their source of drinking water from a dam below the project site had been contaminated by hazardous chemicals allegedly used to poison trees in the area, and that they had developed skin problems as a result.

The Miri-based company then conducted a site visit to check, but its lawyer told them that the chemicals were those approved by the Chemicals Board.

Mujah said the complaints would be further investigated.

Meanwhile, State Reform Party president Dr Putau Rubis, referring to increasing ligitation, said "the land issue is likely to explode one day in the face of state leaders if it is not resolved".

He pointed out the growing anger and frustration within rural communities over the situation, as well as the perceived discrimination against Dayak minority groups in the framing of economic policy.

"As Dayaks form the largest group or community inSarawak, they deserve to be treated better," he added.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak-based stringer