A gathering of about 200 Iban longhouse heads in and around Bintulu in central Sarawak have passed a resolution urging authorities issuing land leases to carry out a proper survey of the land to be leased out to individuals or companies.

They also want land subject to NCR to be excluded from the leases.

The gathering, randau pemansang, held in Bintulu during the weekend, was organised by the Selangau branch of the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia).

ncr land sarawak and palm oil plantation It was officiated by Sadia president Sidi Munan, who told the longhouse heads that Dayak NCR land-owners were in a quandry because the state government was issuing logging licences and plantation permits indiscriminately.

This is the result of what Munan called the encroachment into NCR land described as pemakai menoa or territorial domain of the Dayaks.

There are currently about 200 court cases involving disputes over encroachment of pemakai menoa , mainly by private companies.

The meeting also urged Sadia headquarters to form an organisation for the development of pemakai menoa.

'The first step is the political will'

Munan told Malaysiakini : “In our opinion, there should not be many problems if the leases were issued after careful surveys of the areas to be leased.

“Why the hurry to issue leases? Carry out the survey in respect of any existing rights in the area under lease and all would be well before investors are brought in.”

He said it would save the investors time and money if native owners were taken on board in the first place.

“The investors prefer to deal with land with titles. So if you want to help the natives, a better policy is to carry out a title survey,” Munan said.

He agreed that the survey exercise would take a long time to complete but pointed out that “every journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”.

“That first step is the political will. It may take 50 years, but after that, it would be worth it in the interests of the natives,” the Dayak NGO head said.