SIBU DECLARATION
We, Sea Dayak Iban Community Leaders, Elders And Members
from the Sibu, Mukah, Selangau, Sarikei and Betong Division Do Hereby Declare
And Affirm as follows:
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| Sibu Town |
WHEREAS Since time immemorial, long before the existence
of the Brunei Sultanate along northern coast of Borneo in 1368 and long before the Kingdom of Sarawak was
established by Rajah James Brooke in 1841 , We Have Always Existed as Tribal
Nations governed by our Native laws,
namely, our Customs or Adat.
AND WHEREAS the Territorial Domain of our Tribal Nations
is known in our customs as pemakai menoa which include a landmass, rivers,
mountains and forests. Under our Customs, the entire area of the pemakai menoa
are our properties over which we have full rights and exclusive possession
which we defend zealously against any invasion or intrusion save with consent.
AND WHEREAS we Sea Dayak Iban are amongst the First
Nation People of Sarawak. We are also part of the large Dayak communities
occupying and living throughout the Island of Borneo including in Sabah and
Kalimantan.
AND WHEREAS for many centuries our Sea Dayak Iban
ancestors have been pioneering, creating and acquiring pemakai menoa in the
lower Rejang Basin ________ [river system]. In the pioneering days of
territorial expansion and opening up of pemakai menoa our ancestors, countless
conflicts, battles and wars were fought. Peace was only attained after a long
period of nation building.
AND WHEREAS the Rajah Charles Brooke in his last address
to the Council Negeri in 1915 had prophetically Advised that after he is gone,
people with soft and smiling countenance will come and deprive the Natives of
their land and make the natives as outcast in their own lands. Therefore, he
advised the Natives to protect their lands at all costs . He further Declared
that “Sarawak belong to the Malays, the Sea Dayaks, the Land Dayaks, and the
Kayans and other and other Tribes.... not us. It is for them that we labour” .
In this His Highness saw himself as just a trustee for the natives.
AND WHEREAS our custom of pemakai menoa has always been
part and parcel of our customs until today and have also been consistently
upheld and affirmed by the Native Courts until today.
AND WHEREAS in further affirmation of our customs of
pemakai menoa, the Secretariat Circular 12/1939 made directions for the
demarcation for the boundaries for villages’ communal native customary lands
which is essentially pemakai menoa. In pursuance to that, many longhouses have
their pemakai menoa demarcated but some have not.
AND WHEREAS when Sarawak became a Crown Colony of Great
Britain in 1946 our rights, customs, beliefs and welfare were guaranteed and
later written under Clause 8 of the Sarawak Royal Instructions 1956.
AND WHEREAS when Malaysia was formed on 16th September
1963, the Paramount Chief of the Dayak Iban community, the late Tun Temenggong
Jugah Anak Barieng cautioned that Malaysia “Anang Aja Malaysia baka tebu, manis
ba pun, tabar di ujung” which is translated “Malaysia must not be like the
sugarcane which is sweet at the base but bland at the top”. This was a
prophetic reminder that we Dayak Iban must not short-changed despite being far
from the seat of power.
AND WHEREAS Throughout the process of the formation of
Malaysia, our founding fathers have always emphasized on the guarantee to our
rights, customs and welfare as reported during the Cobbold Commission
Inquiry and Inter-governmental Committee
Report and finally accorded to in the
Sarawak Constitution and the Malaysian
Federal Constitution .
NOW WE FURTHER DECLARE AS FOLLOWS:
1. THAT
our rights to our pemakai menoa are Native Customary Lands or also known as
Native Customary Rights Lands [“NCL/NCRL”] which we inherit from our ancestors
Shall Be Free from any abridgment, impairment, extinguishment or interference
whether in times past, presently, or in the future.
2. THAT
our customs of pemakai menoa having been practised since time immemorial by our
ancestors and still being practised by us now is Neither inferior Nor
subordinate to any but existing parallel to the laws of Sarawak including the
Sarawak Land Code [Cap.81].
3. THAT
our pemakai menoa as Native Customary Lands have always been and still is part
of the laws of Sarawak.
4. AS a
First Nation People in the Country of Sarawak, our Adat of pemakai menoa and
all the contents thereof takes precedence over other subsequent claims or
rights including those land titles or licences that may overlap with our
pemakai menoa. And we also re-iterate our constitutional rights envisaged by
Article 161A of the federal Constitution that our pemakai menoa as NCR lands
must be given preferential treatment over and above other conflicting rights.
4.2 As
First Nation People, We have been Wronged when our Native Customary Land Rights
have been made secondary or inferior to rights created by written laws.
5.1 WE
Stand Firm Against any attempts to or any changes, modification or alteration
to the areas, sizes and boundaries of our pemakai menoa other than our pemakai
menoa which we inherited from our ancestors until today.
5.2 NO
laws, rules or regulations shall be made, whether in the Legislature or at the institutional
level, to change, modify or alter our customs of pemakai menoa.
6. THAT
any form of acquisition, extinguishment, deprivation, surrender of native
customary lands and howsoever it may be must follow the acquisition procedure
under section 5(3) to (5) Land Code [Cap.81]) and compensated with adequate
compensation with special consideration of the native adat .
7. THAT
the map annexed hereto signifies the areas of our pemakai menoa which we
inherited from our ancestors whether recorded or not with any government entity
must be respected by the government and all.
Declared And Affirmed This 7th Day Of October, 2017 At
Sacred High Auditorium, Sibu, Sarawak.
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