Lack of transparency and legality in logging encroachment in Long Pilah, Baram

SAM would like to express its grave concern on the logging encroachment that has taken place since March this year in the customary territory of Long Pilah, Sungai Jahek, in Baram. We therefore would like to state our support to the open letter (see below) from the Long Pilah residents addressed to the Chief Minister of Sarawak dated July 14.

In the past year or so, the Chief Minister of Sarawak has repeatedly stated his stance on the urgent need for the timber industry in Sarawak to operate in accordance with the law and more responsibly. The Chief Minister has even announced the halting of the issuance of new logging licences in the state. Unfortunately however, the story of Long Pilah seems to carry the same old tone.
Of particular interest to us is how the open letter describes the utter lack of information disclosure to the affected communities. Confused on the actual status of the harvesting licence and unclear on the outcome of the Forests Department’s investigation on the legality of the operation, the people alleged that their attempt to gather more official information was directly denied by the Department with the untenable excuse that such information is considered as sensitive.

Why exactly does information on the beneficiaries of the logging industry need to be hidden from public view? This lack of transparency, which has long plagued the timber industry in the country, is a systemic failure in governance.

We are indeed not surprised at the failure of the Long Pilah residents in obtaining information on the status of the logging operations in their customary territory. In 2008, even our attempts to request for maps and information on the Sarawak Permanent Forest Estate failed to obtain a favourable response. Meanwhile, our requests for information on logging concession details were also rejected in 2011.

Further, the villagers are right to question on the legality of the operations, regardless of the fact as to whether the operations are sanctioned by a valid licence. After all, the Malaysian judiciary has ruled that the indigenous customary land rights are in fact proprietary rights, not unlike the documentary land title. Further, the legitimacy of such rights can only be determined through indigenous customs. Modern law is only relevant to ascertain if the rights have been extinguished at any point of time.

However, the state has thus far failed to introduce any policy or legislative reforms in order to align them with such judicial findings. This governance inaction raises the question as to whether it is lawful for states to continue issuing licences for resource extractive activities on indigenous customary territories, without the consent of affected communities. In short, without the appropriate reforms, the legal impeccability of Malaysian timber products may continue to be questionable.

We therefore urge the Chief Minister to take the necessary actions to halt the logging operations within the Long Pilah customary land and to drop the charge against Ajeng Jok who is only trying to protect his community rights. Information on the ownership and status of the harvesting licence and the outcome of the investigation by the Forests Department must be made public, as with other information on forestry matters and the licensing of logging and plantation activities in Sarawak. Further, the appropriate message must be sent to signal that the use of gangs and other harassment tactics to intimidate affected villagers into silence does not have a place in this country. Last but not least, we urge for the appropriate policy and legal reforms to be undertaken in Sarawak in order to ensure that they are aligned with judicial findings on the indigenous customary land rights.

Press Release, July 14, 2015

Open Letter to the Chief Minister of Sarawak:
Halt the Logging Operations in the NCR land of Long Pilah, Baram

JULY 14, 2015
Miri

Yang Amat Berhormat Tan Sri,

With deep regret, we, the Action Committee Members of Long Pilah in Baram, would like to inform you that a logging company has been encroaching into our native customary rights (NCR) land since March this year. The operations of this company have been extremely inconsiderate. It is not just the forest that has been impacted, even our rubber trees and other crops were destroyed during the construction of their access road, all without our consent. Then, our demand for compensation was just simply rejected by the company.

Therefore, in April, a blockade was built in order to prevent the company from operating further into our territory. We subsequently lodged a police report on this matter in Long Lama.

In May, officers from the Forests Department came to investigate on the operations of the company. The timbers that had been felled by the company were afterwards tied up by the officers. This action led us to believe that the operations of the company may have most likely contravened certain aspects of the law. However, not long after, the company began to move the timbers without the presence of any personnel from the agency. Finally, when contacted, the Department stated to us that the company indeed possesses a valid licence to operate. We then became utterly confused over what had actually taken place. When we visited the Forests Department in Miri in early July to obtain more information on the company’s licence, our request was rejected with the excuse that such information is considered as sensitive.

Nevertheless, although the logging operations may have well been conducted in accordance with legislation, how could the legality of the licensing process be unquestionable, in view of the reality that it has failed to respect our NCR, which is recognised by the courts? As a matter of fact, our NCR territory was established by our ancestors during the Brooke era.

Next, during our busy preparation for the Gawai, the company took the advantage to dismantle our blockade and continue with their operations. Therefore, on June 4, we began to rebuild the blockade. In order to effectively deter any further encroachments, we took possession of some machinery keys, vehicle and other equipment belonging to the company. Our intention was such that once they agree to halt their encroachment, we would certainly hand everything back to them. We also lodged another police report in Marudi at the end of June to clarify on the matter.

Finally, on June 27, we were invited for a discussion with the company in Miri. Unfortunately however, this discussion which we earlier believed was for the purpose of negotiating on compensation payments, failed to produce any resolution. In fact we had to hear threatening words – “if in Sibu, if it is like this, legs may break” (kalau di Sibu, patah kaki ini macam). They even took photographs of our vehicles.

Due to concerns on our safety, on June 29, we lodged three police reports in Long Lama on the matter. However on July 4, it was our chairperson, Mr. Ajeng Jok, who ended up being detained. He was subsequently released on bail on the next day but has now been charged under section 379A of the Penal Code, on the ‘theft’ of the company’s properties and will soon stand trial.

Tan Sri, you may think that it was imprudent of us to take possession of the company’s properties, but what other option do we have when the authorities have clearly failed to take any action to protect our rights after several police reports had already been lodged?

Now, the situation has become more tense. We have been informed that a group of gang is today already present in the logging area. A police report on this was made in Marudi on July 8.

How is it Tan Sri, that a logging company can actually mistreat us in this way – threatening the villagers and using gangs to intimidate us? How is it Tan Sri, that our police reports seem to have been ignored while a police report from the company has swiftly caused one of us to now face a criminal charge, when we were only trying to protect our rights? How is it Tan Sri, that we have failed to obtain information on the company from the Forests Department, when transparency is key to an effective and clean public service?

Therefore Tan Sri, we sincerely hope that your goodself is able to take the necessary actions to ensure that the encroachment of our NCR land will be immediately halted and the criminal charge against Mr. Ajeng Jok is dropped. We demand that the use of gangs and other tactics to intimidate us to be put to a stop right away. Last but not least, we also appeal for detailed information on the licensing of the logging operations to be disclosed in a transparent manner.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,
Members of the Long Pilah Action Committee
Baram.