By Simon Peter
KUCHING, May 10, 2014: Batang Ai state legislator Malcolm
Mussen anak Lamoh has hit out at the State government for continuously renewing
a license to Mastika Jaya Plantation Sdn Bhd to extract timber from native
customary rights (NCR) lands in his constituency.
"I am deeply disturbed by the issuance of this
timber license in my constituency," he said when debating the Governor's
Royal Address yesterday.
He said that the people from these four longhouses -
Danau, Kandis, Bukong Atas and Bukong
Baroh- bear the brunt of the extraction
of timber from their NCR lands.
"Despite numerous written and verbal protests by
those longhouse residents over the last 5 years, the licensee continued to
harvest timbers and plant oil palms in the licensed area without consultations and Prior Informed Consent (PIC) from the
affected landowners.
"So far, the
licence have continued to be renewed every year and worst still company persists
to
extend the license to cover more shifting cultivation
areas which include not less than eight old longhouse sites or tembawai and those adjacent areas
already gazetted for communal reserves through the Perimeter Survey Initiative
by the Land & Survey Department in 2010.
"After
occupying these areas for 14 generations spanning not less than 300 years definitely some of the cleared lands either as temuda, pala
umai or tembawai would look like primary forests, except for those isolated
burial sites we called pendam and pulau ulit which has some ritual significance.
"Their contention is that those aerial photos taken
only in the 1950's would not be adequate to determine whether those pockets of so-called
primary forests surrounded by shifting cultivation areas had not been cleared hundreds
years earlier, as compared to the oral tradition, customary practices and narratives
over the NCR land areas.
"In those days, be it farming, fishing or hunting
for food, it is the very essence of
their way of life.
"In any case, a search with the Land and Survey
Department in Sri Aman and Lubok Antu District has confirmed that areas
concerned has been subjected to both shifting cultivation and settled
cultivation and other land uses as the letter from Land and Survey dated Jan
14, 2010 with reference 157/4-16/6(1), where some of the landowners are keen to
participate in the development of industrial crops (oil palm, rubber and pepper)
on those areas.
"Therefore, I would like once again appeal to the
relevant authority to revoke the licence issued to Mastika Jaya with immediate
effect before it incurs a lot more physical damage to NCR lands and crops with
subsequent disturbance to the river eco-system which forms the main source of
the gravity-feed water supply for those longhouses.
"Subsequently, I would like to urge that the
relevant Departments and Ministries to address the problems associated with the subject of NCR
lands which are encumbered within the Provisional Leases (PL), Licenses for Planted
Forest (LPF) and Timber Licenses (TL) throughout the State.
"Even though timber industry does generate substantial
income, the relevant departments and agencies must step up their efforts to monitor
the logging activities and their disastrous impacts on the environment and the livelihoods
of the affected community," Malcolm said.
He stressed that the Issuance of OTs (Occupation Tickets)
for harvesting of timber on NCR lands should be done prudently with proper
consultations in order to avoid controversies and assuage anxieties amongst the local residents over
payment of compensations and other terms
and conditions for operating such licenses.
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