8,000 Kenyahs in Belaga laid claim on ancestral land

BELAGA: About 8,000 Kenyahs from four longhouses in Belaga laid claim on their ancestral land through a resolution to the land and survey department with the hope of jointly developing their land for their future generations.

Initially, only two longhouses joint forces but later two other longhouses were included reflecting a strong sense of unity among the Kenyahs in Belaga to work together to get things done.

“We wish to develop our land in line with the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) projects like fish rearing, planting of coconuts, ecotourism, goat and cow rearing. We welcome interested parties who wish to develop our area, but they must discuss and sign any memorandum of understanding with the joint committee first,” said the secretary of the joint committee of Lebu Kulit, Uma Bakah, Uma Balui Ukap and Uma Lesong Dennis Hang Bilang.

The resolution was handed over to the Kapit Land and Survey department superintendent Alfian Bawi during a simple ceremony on 28 April 2010 at Uma Bakah Belaga.

Present were the deputy chairman Edin Anyie and several Kenyah community leaders from the four longhouses.

Through the joint committee, Dennis said the Kenyahs in Belaga can together with the other communities in the state enjoy the rapid pace of development that is now taking place.
“We can develop our land like the rest in the state if our claim to our ancestral land is recognised. Our ancestors were given the land during the Brooke rule in the early 1950s and we have the map to show the land that were given to our ancestors,” said Dennis.

“We want to seize every business opportunities once the Bakun Dam on like going into fish rearing and tourism,” he added. ENDS.



Caption: RESOLUTION FOR A BETTER FUTURE: Edin (centre) with the committee members showing the resolution before handing it over to the department for consideration.

KILLER RETURNS TO FACE JUDGEMENT

A man who escaped to Indonesia after killing a man had a change of heart and save enough money  to return and face possible death sentence.

He was driven by consuming guilt conscience that his buddy was charge for the killing of the old man, while he himself was free at home.

With no peace of mind, the man made a great effort to come back to face the law.

When he first received the news from his brother who was in Miri about the friend being charged for murder in June last year, he wanted to make the trip immediately. However, he had no money to renew his passport.

He had to wait for a few months until November last year to save enough money to renew his passport and came back to Miri, knowing fully well he could possibly be hanged.

When he came back to Miri, he chose to work at his former place with the hope that he would be caught by the police.

He was finally caught by the police on 23 January 2010, exactly a year after the incident.

However, in court yesterday, he faced alternative charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, an offence under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code which if liable to imprisonment sentence not exceeding 30 years.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years jail.

According to the charge, he caused the death of one Jaffar bin Mohammad on 25 January 2009 at 12:30 until 1:30pm at the area of Tamu Ikan Kampung Batu Satu.

According to the facts of the case, the accused Jepri Anggut and his friend by the name of Abdul bin Jahim went to meet Jaffar bin Mohammad (the deceased) at the area of Tamu Ikan, Kampung Tanjung Batu, Jalan Kuala Baram Miri to ask the deceased about one handphone and cash money amounting to RM1,200 belongs to the accused which were missing.

They went there using a motorcycle. When they arrived there, they saw the deceased was sewing a casting net inside a boat. Then, the accused went to approach the deceased and asked about the missing items. Abdul bin Jahirin remained on the motorcycle.

After that, there was a quarrel between the accused and the deceased pertaining to the missing items and later on the deceased alighted from the boat, pick up one piece of plastic pipe and walked toward the accused. Then the deceased hit the accused by using the plastic pipe but the accused managed to grab the plastic pipe from the deceased. During the fight, the accused managed to hit the deceased's head by using the helmet that he was holding. The accused also managed to hit the deceased's body and head by using the plastic pipe grabbed from the deceased. As a result, the deceased fell down on the ground.

After the deceased fell on the ground the accused saw a piece of wood and the accused took the piece of wood and hit the deceased's head several times while the deceased was lying on the ground. When the accused saw the deceased was motionless the accused ran away to Abdul who was sitting on the motorcycle and they left the scene using the motorcycle.

The body of the deceased was later found motionless by Saminan Matyasin at about 1:30pm. The body of the deceased was later brought to Miri Hospital by the police and a post mortem had been conducted by Dr Jamil bin Dolkadir. From the post mortem conducted, the cause of death was due to intercranial haemorrage with a large fracture of skull due to blunt head injury.

A representative of the Indonesian Embassy in Kuching, Monica Ari Wijayanti was in court to observe the court proceeding.

DIRTY COPS IN MIRI

Five policemen were arrested in Miri on suspicion of extortion  on Tuesday this week.

A foreigner made a police report against five policemen here Monday, alleging that he and a friend were extorted by the lawkeepers while they were waiting for their bus at the city centre.

A remand order of four days were placed upon the five suspects by the magistrate court yesterday.

The remand order was made by lower court registrar Dora Undau after allowing the request made by the investigating officer.

In the request, the investigating officer told the court on 19 April 2010, an Indonesian man made a police report at the Miri Central Police station.

In the report, the complainant alleged that at 11am on 4 April 2010 while waiting for bus with a friend at the bus stop infront of the Miri City Council, they were approached by five uniformed policemen.

               According to the complainant, the five policemen proceeded to demand the Indonesian men to show their travelling document.

Both of them showed their work permits to the policemen, but the policemen were not satisfied and told them the work permits were not documents for them to come out to walk about.

The policemen then directed the two Indonesian men to enter a car to bring them to the police station, where they were forced to pay a certain amount of money to the policemen in order for them to be released.

Both of them had given each RM200 to the policemen involved, besides 19 prepaid handphone cards worth RM10 each were seized from them by the policemen.

Acting on the information, at 4:05pm on 20 April, a team of policemen led by chief inspector Jeffrey Guhak arrested the suspects at the Miri Central Police station on suspicion of involvement in the case.

The court allowed  the remand application according to Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code to detain the suspects four day to facilitate police investigation.

The remand expired on 25 April 2010

Long Jawe at a crossroad

The Kenyahs Lebu Kulit of Long Jawe are at a crossroad of their history as a people, fighting for their rightful position in this land while defending their inheritance from encroachment by vested interests, said the secretary for action committee of Long Jawe Dennis Hang Bilang.

Long Jawe has a historic significance in the history of the country.

During the rule of the third Rajah Brooke on 1 April 1946, the ancestors of the Kenyah Lebu Kulit migrated from Long Jelarai in Indonesia to Tasak Aram in ulu Balui in Sarawak.

From there they were led by Nyipa Lawai, Pasan Abo and Pato Usat to move to Long Item. From Long Item they finally move to Long Jawe where Pasan Abo was appointed as the headman.

During the Indonesian Confrontation after Malaysia was formed in 1963, Long Jawe became a battleground when the British soldiers who were placed in the longhouse fought against invading Indonesian soldiers.

The people of Long Jawe were caught in the crossfire, their longhouse was fired upon with bullets and some of the able-bodied men of Long Jawe were conscripted as border scouts by the British army. A few men of Long Jawe were worth mentioning because they put their lives on the line fighting for the country, men like Liu Maling, Ubang Kasau, Along Tanyit and many more.

These men fought to defend the land they thought were their own.

It was the British that moved the people from Long Item to Long Jawe for military strategy- to defend the border, since Long Jawe was close to the border between Sarawak and Indonesia.

At first the Lebu Kulit refused to move but after being promised by the British that they would be given land, they relented but only on condition that a “surat tanah” be issued to them as proof.

At that time, there was no land and survey department, all administrative things were done through the district officer who at that time was assisted by a native officer.

On 15 June 1953, the Brooke government issued only a sketch map showing the boundary where the Lebu Kulit could settle freely.

During present day, the Kenyah Lebu Kulit were once again asked to move out of Long Jawe to make way for development vis-a-vis Bakun Dam.

While the Kenyah Lebu Kulit were resettled at Sungai Asap, albeit reluctantly, their ancestral land at Long Jawe were encroached upon.
“There were massive illegal logging being done on our land to extract timber such as meranti,” said Dennis.

According to him, they had brought the matter to court. ENDS.


Caption:
 ILLEGAL LOGGING: A group of young men from Long Jawe were dejected seeing what's happening to the forest where their ancestors roamed about.