AS the season of Advent approaches, we note with great sadness and concern a number of tragedies and disasters that occurred recently, from the recent fatal Church shooting in Texas, USA to the massive flood in Penang.
The recent Federal Court decision (involving Masa Nangkai and his fellow villagers in Pantu) concerning the loss of government recognised Native Customary Rights (NCR) land belonging to a group of natives of Sarawak to an oil palm plantation is the latest in a series of Court decisions which are of no less devastating effect to the Natives of Sarawak.
We are deeply concerned with the recent Federal Court decisions, which appear to blatantly disregard the rights of the indigenous people of Sarawak.
To the indigenous people, land is regarded as sacred as life and to lose their NCR land is like losing life.The recent court judgments may be perceived as unjust and taking away the inalienable constitutional rights of the Natives over their NCR land as provided in Paragraph 22(3) and 30(1) of the Report of the Inter-Governmental Committee 1962 and safeguarded under Article VIII of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and Article 13 and 161E of the Federal Constitution.
Whilst we applaud the state government’s initiative to recover the lost rights of Sarawak under MA63 from the Federal Government, we must not lose sight of the plight of our own indigenous people of Sarawak whose constitutional rights under MA63 and the Federal Constitution over their NCR land have time and again been eroded and lost.
We warmly welcome the state government’s initiative to prepare a more precise legal definition of ‘Pemakai Menoa’ and ‘Pulau Galau’ (and their equivalents) and call for the same to be expedited in the interest of all parties concerned.
In addition to MA63, we are guided by the Bible to “follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 16:20).
God bless Sarawak!
The Right Revd Danald Jute, Bishop of the Anglican Church in Sarawak and Brunei, which is known as the Diocese of Kuching.