special report One of Sarawak's greatest assets is land. It is still largely undeveloped, especially in the countryside where 60 percent of its 2.2 million population - comprising mainly of non-Muslim indigenous groups collectively known as Dayak - have settled for centuries.

It is this asset that is being exploited on a scale never before, both for timber and plantation of the so-called 'golden crop', oil palm.

This has led to a series of conflicts as companies given leases for oil palm plantations and logging concessions encroach into areas the indigenous people claim is theirs by virtue of native customary rights (NCR).

While NCR is legally recognised, there are no visible boundary lines due to the lack of complete surveys and adjudication. Crisscrossing these lines are Dayak longhouses and kampungs.

Most natives are subsistence farmers, planting padi, tapping rubber and growing pepper.

The Iban, who form the biggest Dayak group, call the area they farm temuda (cultivated land) and areas where they hunt, fish and collect timber as pemakai menoa (territorial domain) and pulau galau (communal reserve).