KUCHING, July 5 — The Dayak National Congress (DNC) said it is deeply disappointed with the proposed amendments to the Sarawak Land Code relating to territorial domain and communal forest reserves which the Dayak community have claimed as their customary rights land.
Its president Paul Raja said the Bill to amend the land code, which will be tabled at next week’s sitting of the Sarawak State Assembly, will put an end to the custom of territorial domain (pemakai menoa) and communal forest reserves (pulau galau).
He accused the state government of short-changing the natives and downgrading their customary rights over land.
“We urge all the Dayak and right-thinking state assemblymen not to support this Bill but insist on a new one based on the state government’s promise of giving recognition of the customs of pemakai menoa and pulau galau,” he said.
Raja, who is also an NCR land lawyer, said he finds some provisions of the Bill totally unacceptable to the Dayak community.
He cited the example of one that seeks to give usufructuary rights to the Dayaks for the use of the land as opposed to rights of ownership.
“Time and again, we have been arguing in the courts that our rights are not usufructuary rights, but are proprietary or land ownership rights,” Raja said, adding that current laws and constitutional provisions do support such an argument.
He said many court decisions support the argument that the native customary rights are about land ownership rights.
Raja also found it unacceptable to limit the size of territorial domain to 500 hectares, saying that the area was determined long time ago based on customs.
“This amendment truly ends the customs of pemakai menoa instead of recognising it,” he said, stressing that the custom of pemakai menoa has been practised by the Dayak community throughout the island of Borneo, including, Sabah and Kalimantan, since time immemorial.
He said 500 hectares are barely enough for dwellers of a longhouse to forage for food, hunt, fish and farm.
Raja also slammed the state government for failing to include a provision in the Bill to recognise pulau galau as NCR land.
“With the absence of the provision for pulau galau, it means this custom is being terminated by the Bill,” he said, adding the customs of pulau galau is to provide a source of timber and materials for the construction of longhouses as well as a supply of traditional medicine.
