A group of Iban longhouse dwellers in Sarawak whose Native Customary Rights (NCR) land is affected by the activities of a plantation company in Bintulu Division have decided to file a complaint with the state police headquarters over the lack of action taken by the local police on their complaints.

"We've decided to lodge the report (against the local police) at the state police headquarters in Kuching," group leader Tuai Rumah Banyang anak Ramai, 62, told Malaysiakini .

ncr land sarawak and palm oil plantation Banyang said they made no less than 50 police reports in Bintulu against the company BBC Estate Sdn Bhd and their plantation activities and the behaviour of their workers, mostly Indonesians, since 2002.

The company, according to the Ibans from four longhouses in and around Sunagi Spadok, has been issued with a 60-year provisional lease which they claim partly overlaps their NCR land on which they have cultivated for many decades.

The longhouse chief claimed that the local police not only failed to act on their complaints but also appeared to have allegedly sided with the company.

He said the police even went to the site in November last year when a group of 34 NCR landowners were trying to harvest their mini oil palm estate following a report lodged by the company and arrested them.

Those were arrested were taken to the Bintulu police station and only released after they agreed to sign a good behaviour bond.

They were told to report to the police station once a month failing which they would each be fined RM1,000, according to TR Banyang.

Court action

Well-known local NCR lawyer Baru Bian told Malaysiakini that the Ibans have also filed a court action against the company.

Residents of the four longhouses have planted about 870 hectares with oil palm on what they say is their NCR land which overlaps part of the area under the lease issued to the company in 2000.

TR Banyang and several of his longhouse residents attended an open discussion organised by the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia), a local NGO, between 150 NCR landowners representing various communities in Sarawak and local and foreign NGOs, including Tenaganita, Rainforest Action Network, People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PFCS) and Pesticides Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP).

The meeting was held in conjunction with an international fact-finding mission into various parts of Sarawak where known NCR land disputes involving native landowners, plantation companies and the state authorities have taken place.

The mission aims also at ensuring that state authorities, growers and millers respect native customary rights and comply with universally accepted laws and ensure that oil palm products originate from sustainable development areas.

Failure to meet the standards as agreed between the various stakeholders with direct and indirect interests in palm oil could lead to a denial of consumer market access to such projects overseas.