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.

TELANG USAN KOBERA

The Telang Usan cooperative body (KOBERA) was launched yesterday with the aim of reducing the rural poverty in the huge rural constituency.

“This is a historic moment for our people in Telang Usan for through this cooperative movement we hope to bring changes little by little to our rural community. We aim to bring socio-economic changes through our participation in this cooperative movement,” said the chairman of Telang Usan KOBERA Lihan Jok.

Lihan, who is also the Telang Usan assemblyman, said this during a simple launching prior to its inaugural annual general meeting at Dynasty Hotel yesterday.

Present were the Kayan community leader Penghulu Ajang Wan, the assistant director of Malaysian Cooperative Commission (SKM) Miri Lily Fauziah Adenan.

Lihan disclosed  that in a study conducted in 2004, Telang Usan constituency was among the five areas in the state having its population living below the poverty level.

During the meeting, Lihan, as the chairman, also announced the committee line up namely Jok Eng Jok (secretary), councillor Jaraw Brahim (treasurer), Alexander Lian (deputy chairman) and the following members of the board of directors Dorus Katan, Howard Wan, Garry Hashim, Mulin, Robin Udau.

Three persons namely Francis Ding, Erang Ngang and councillor Dennis Ngau Jok were appointed as the internal auditors.

Lihan said this is a good opportunity to serve the needy in our community.

“This is the best opportunity I can give you all to be partners with me to serve our people. You will be the agents of change for our community. The very fact that you were willing to cooperate and be united is a profit in itself already. I hope this spirit of unity will bring the cooperative movement in our constituency to greater heights in the future. The rise and fall of any cooperatives body in the country depend on those who lead and manage the cooperative,” said Lihan.

For this year, Lihan hoped to be able to register 300 members.

“Priority will be given to handicapped persons (OKU) and single mothers in the constituency. I wish to clarify that this is not a welfare body. Even though we are targetting these groups of people as members, this is not a welfare exercise where these people expect handouts. They must be active and productive to be members. For example, the handicapped persons are capable of doing things like handicrafts,” explained Lihan. 

family tragedy

MIRI: Hundreds of friends and relatives came to pay their last respects to four in a family that were killed in a car accident near Marudi two days ago.

Even before the bodies of Ding Wan, his wife Uyang Emang, son 15-year old Gabriel Issac and daughter 11-year old Jacqueline Usun arrived at their home in Taman Tunku crowds of mourners had gathered to wait for their arrival by road from Marudi.

Among those that came were former SIB Sarawak president Reverend Justin Wan, who happened to come from the same longhouse as the deceased, Baram Orang Ulu paramount chief Temenggong Pahang Ding, Long Panai headman Gilbert Ding.

Surviving eldest daughter Beatrice Ding had arrived from Kuala Lumpur earlier. She is taking Business Administration in a college in the capital city. She was seen being comforted by friends from her former school in Miri.

Surviving son, Patrick Wan rushed to Marudi when he heard the news of the tragedy. He is still studying in Form 5 in a secondary school in Miri.

The pastor of SIB Kayan Taman Tunku where the family worship pastor Wan Ajeng said both the late Ding Wan and his wife were active in church work.

“Both of them served as deacons in the church and they were always eager to share their testimony in the church,” said pastor Wan Ajeng.

Most church members described the family as an exemplary family, having the compassion to help others in need.

“This family is a good family. It is such a tragedy. Both of the children that died with the parents are good in their studies, what a loss,” said Wan Jau.

The family were on their way to their longhouse Long Panai in Tutoh-Apoh. Long Panai was only recently accessible by road, and the family were eager to visit their home in the longhouse when they were involved in a self-accident before they could reach Marudi. ENDS.

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Caption: FAMILY PHOTO IN HAPPIER TIME: From left: patrick, Uyang (mother), Jacqueline, Gabriel, Ding (father), Beatrice.

PENAN HUSBAND MISSING MYSTERY

A Penan woman whose husband went missing mysteriously three months ago still believed her husband is still alive and well even though the authorities had ceased their search and rescue operation.

Thirty-year old Usun Malin from Ba'a Puak in Tutoh said the last time she saw her husband 33-year old Emang Moyong was on 2 November last year at Kilometre 6 Petronas camp near Lapok while having lunch there with her husband and her three brothers Nyagong, Bawing and Selapan.

According to Usun, the husband and her siblings were brought to the camp purportedly to do filming on the Penan's way of hunting monkeys with blowpipe at Loagan Bunut by a local man known to them.

Usun, a mother of two children 8-year old Maria and 6-year old Mathew held the local man responsible for the disappearance of her husband by explaining the actual circumstances of her husband's disappearance.

According to her, the man never came to see the family after the incident.

“I have heard a lot of rumours regarding the mysterious disappearance of my husband. Some said he deliberately ran away, others said he had gone home and others said he was having affairs somewhere. I reject all such rumour,” said Usun.

She told this to the Borneo Post yesterday.

Meanwhile 37-year old Selapan the last man with Emang before his disappearance related that the group should have return to Ba'a tribe on 2 November.

"We arrived at Long Lama approximately 10.30 am and need to buy some essential goods . Suddenly the local man decided to return to camp 6, giving the reason of wanting to do filming at Loagan Bunut, " said Selapan.

According Selapan, the local man brought him and Emang while leaving three other Penan men behind after lunch at the camp. The local man brought them to Loagan Bunut.

"I saw two 4WD vehicles following us from behind which I thought were the film crew. But there was no filming instead the local man drove around for a while before he brought us to the Loagan Bunut hill," said Selapan.

Selapan alleged the local man then forced them to sign a document the content of which they did not know. They refused to sign the document.

"He forced us to sign the document and when we refused he forced us out of the vehicle but we refused to leave. Frustrated the man himself went out without saying anything, "

When the man did not return, both of them came out of the vehicle.

"At that time we saw 10 men from the vehicles that had been following us approached. They looked as if they wanted to frighten us, "

It was at this juncture that Emang ran into the jungle and never to be seen again.

"I tried to run after Emang but it was getting dark by the time," said Selapan.

The next day he continue tracking Emang in the jungle but his effort was futile and he returned to the camp.

Meanwhile, the Long Lama police chief Sergeant Wahid Abdullah, when contacted yesterday confirmed receiving a missing person report on November 7

"A search and rescue operation involving 14 officers was launched twice one in November and another one in December which lasted a total of three weeks," he disclosed.

"However, during the three week operation we cannot locate the missing person Emang Moyong," he added.

Asked whether the police still continue its search and rescue operation, he said the case had been closed since the previous operation were unsuccessful.

"The more we look, the more distant he fled. Hence we decided to close this case. We have been trying to do our best to find Emang, " he said.

Meanwhile, the headman of Long Sayan (another Penan longhouse) Ajang Kiew when met revealed a search and rescue committee involving 5 Penan longhouses had been set up to continue searching for Emang in the jungle.

"We viewed this incident seriously. We want the local man to come forward to explain exactly what had happened," said Ajang. ENDS.

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Caption: STILL WAITING: Usun with her two children hoping for a miracle.