About 200 Iban families in Sebauh, Bintulu will have to wait until March 24 to know whether they have native customary rights (NCR) on more than a thousand hectares of land that have been included in a provisional lease given by the state government to a company.

Kuching High Court judge David Wong adjourned the defendants' case to the aformentioned date after a witness - cartographer with the Land and Survey Department - gave evidence during two days of hearing starting on Thursday.

Natives from three riverine communities in Sg Selazu, Sg Setulai and Sg Sepadok sued the state government, the Land and Survey Department and Ladang Sawit Bintulu Sdn Bhd, the company holding the 60-year plantation lease.

They also sued Lembaga Tabung Hai (LUTH) which holds 70 percent in the joint venture company and Semai Mekar Sdn Bhd that represents the local shareholders interest of 30 percent.

Counsel for the plaintiffs See Chee How produced a total of 17 witnesses, including two experts on NCR land rights, during the long trial which started in March last year.

On NCR land

The natives argue that part of the company's oil palm plantation areas as well as some unplanted areas are on NCR land.

However, the authorities said those areas claimed to be NCR lands have already been excluded from the leased land.

Other NCR claimants have also sued the state government and the companies for the same reasons including one case which will be heard sometime in May this year.

The Ladang Sawit Bintulu land has a total acreage of about 17,000 acres of which about 9,000 acres have already been planted with oil palm.

The remaining areas have not been planted due to the land dispute with the natives.

Owing to the unresolved land disputes, the company has agreed to sell the land on an ‘as is-where-is’ basis.

Meanwhile, TH Plantations Bhd, the management company, has invited bidders to put a price on the land.