Natives Customary Reserve

Five Ibans released

The Star Online MIRI April 24, 2008 The native longhouse chief and four community elders whose arrest last week sparked off a controversy have been freed. Tuai Rumah Rajang Sengalang and his fellow farmers, Awat, Edi Ingah, Angking Chundau and Awa, were brought to the Miri Court Complex yesterday and released on police bail.

According to police, they had been detained on Friday in connection with the arrest of a man found in possession of a pistol on April 14 near the Suai-Batu Niah junction. Yesterday, the police released the five Iban farmers, all from Rumah Rajang in the rural district of Suai, 100km south of here, after the prosecution had decided not to file any charges following the expiry of their remand order.

“The police did not find enough evidence to link them to any crimes. The other man has also been released,” said a police source. Rumah Rajang is in an area where land is being cleared to make way for an oil palm plantation covering some 2,200ha.

Longhouse Chief’s Arrest Sparks Controversy

The Star Online MIRI April 20, 2008 The arrest of a native longhouse chief and four of his community elders has sparked a controversy in the rural district of Suai, some 100km south of here. The police claimed that the group was suspected to be involved in an armed robbery, and was linked to another local who was found in possession of a pistol recently.

The longhouse chief and those arrested, however, claimed that they were arrested because they had staged a protest against an oil palm company that wanted to clear more than 2,000ha of native land for a plantation project. The chief and the four men were arrested by a team of police officers from Miri and taken to the Miri central police station on Friday.

Yesterday, the group sought the help of the Borneo Resources Institute, a non-governmental organisation involved in environmental conservation and protection of community rights. Institute executive director Mark Bujang said a team of CID personnel from Miri visited the longhouse a few days ago and had asked the chief and the four men to go to the Batu Niah police station to give statements. The statements were in connection with the arrest of the man with the pistol.

“After the longhouse chief and the four men went to the Batu Niah police station, they were arrested and brought to Miri,” he said. Bujang said the chief was also arrested in November last year for allegedly attacking the workers of the project. However, he denied the charges. He added that the Environmental Impact Assessment report for the project had earlier been rejected by the Government. Miri police chief Asst Comm Jamaluddin Ibrahim said he would seek more details from his men.