IN Oct 2010, indigenous rights activist Nicholas Mujah was arrested and remanded for three days with seven others from his village for an alleged fire in a logging camp. The Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) secretary-general has been fighting for the rights of Sarawak indigenous peoples to their native customary land since around 1980 and [...]

IN March 2010, indigenous peoples from Long Teran Kanan, Baram in Sarawak were overjoyed when they won a 13-year legal battle against IOI Pelita Plantation. The Miri High Court recognised the Kayan and Kenyah communities’ native customary rights over the disputed land. However, their joy was short-lived. IOI Pelita Plantation filed an appeal against the [...]

THE indigenous peoples in Long Teran Kanan, Sarawak have been engaged in a legal battle with an oil palm plantation over their native customary land for more than a decade. In 1996, Rinwood Pelita Plantation, a joint venture between Rinwood and Sarawak’s Land Custody and Development Authority, bulldozed everything on the community’s land. Outraged, the [...]