SIBU: A group of Iban farmers is against a plan by a private company to set up an oil palm plantation on what they claim is their Native Customary Rights (NCR) land and not state land.
They recently formed a protem committee to reject the plan in court.
The affected farmers are from 13 longhouses in Sungai Lengan, Tanjong Keling, Nanga Singat, Nanga Mawan and Sungai Satubah in Daro state constituency.
Among the longhouses is the 74-door Rumah Francis Kiyai.
According to the protem committee chairman David Majang, it has received the tacit approval of all 13 longhouse chiefs and more than 3,000 people to act on their behalf.
“Nine of the longhouse chiefs lodged police reports on Oct 28.
“Today (yesterday) another four made a report,” he said when met by reporters after they lodged a report at the police station here yesterday.
He added they would appoint lawyers to represent them.
“As a matter of fact, we have two or three who have offered to give us their service.
“We have all the documents to prove that the land was given to us by the Brooke government as early as 1942,” he said.
Majang said the committee, longhouse chiefs and all the land owners had agreed that anyone among them who sold off a portion of their land would be dealt with accordingly.
“They will be driven off from the area,” he stressed.
He said apart from the longhouses, there were two schools in the area – SK Sungai Lengan and SK Nanga Singat.
“Besides protecting our rights over our land, we are extremely worried that fertilisers, insecticides and other chemicals used would find their way into Sungai Lengan.
“The river is our sole source of drinking water . It is also very important for our survival as it provides us with fish and prawns,” he said.
He said anyone could easily catch up to RM150 worth of fish and prawn daily from the river.
“If chemical should find its way into this river our livelihood is at stake.
“We have come across some rivers where the marine lives have disappeared when chemical from plantations are washed there,” he added.
Majang said when they had appointed their lawyers, they would apply for court injunction to stop the company from proceeding with its preparatory work.