The Federal Court has ordered both sides in a native customary land rights (NCR) dispute to make submissions on whether the plaintiffs have a legitimate claim on the disputed land in Pantu, Sri Aman, Sarawak.

Court of Appeal President Md Raus Sharif, who led the five-member panel, said the decision on the case rests on this issue, so both parties should concentrate on that matter.

Justice Md Raus told plaintiffs - tuai rumah Masa Nangkai and about 100 families represented by lawyer Dominique Ng - to show evidence to support earlier findings of the High Court and Court of Appeal that the plaintiffs do have claim on the disputed land.

As for the defendant, the Sarawak state government, which was represented by its state legal adviser JC Fong, Justice Md Raus told them to show evidence that the findings of the two lower courts are not supported by evidence.

“We can’t be going around the world, you know. That would take us another 80 days. So what we’d do is, we will adjourn the matter (for now).

“Dominique, we just want you to concentrate on the question, because this question is very consequential. Why do you say the plaintiffs are entitled (to the land)?” the judge asked, in an apparent reference to the novel "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne.

The date for the next hearing is yet to be fixed.

Told to come up with colour maps

Speaking to Malaysiakini after the hearing, Ng said it is unusual for the Federal Court to inquire into the facts of a case that have already been upheld by the High Court and Court of Appeal in Kuching.

“When you go back to the facts, you’d have to do a lot of digging. And before I answered the first question, they already asked the second question. How do you expect me to answer so quickly?

“The court actually ordered us to go back and be more focused on two issues: To come up with colour maps and anything to prove that we have NCR. That’s back to square one, which is (already) in the evidence.

“The other one (for the defendants) is to prove otherwise, basically,” Ng said.

The dispute is over the Sg Tenggang NCR Development Area in Pantu.

Ng said that under the scheme, the state government, through the Land Custody Development Authority (LCDA), would go into joint ventures with developers to develop NCR land, with natives holding a 30 percent stake in the venture.

These joint ventures typically develop the land into oil palm plantations.

The concept was good, Ng said, but the implementations have been poor and were done without the consent of the natives, which led to this dispute.

According to a Borneo Post report in January last year, the case is significant because a decision by the Federal Court could affect between 20 to 30 such joint ventures, which use similar sets of agreements and deeds.

During the submissions today, Fong had argued that apart from the first plaintiff Masa, none of the other plaintiffs have NCR claims within the Sg Tenggang NCR Development Area.

However, Ng had countered that the NCR land boundaries he used were based on the global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, which were marked with the help of local community leaders, and the mapmaker had already testified in the High Court.