Our Precious Land (NOT!)

Oni wat nasib tana otto wat tih bih?

Once upon a time there was an area in Bau that was alienated by the government as a proposed new regional growth centre. Having established that plan in motion, the rakyat of the area were aware that their priceless NCR land was about to be taken from them.

So these vigilant Dayaks unanimously decided, “Hey! We’re gonna fight this! Huuraah!!! Idip Dayak!!!”

And so they did, they wrote letters, made petitions, met up with waibi’s and also government officials to stand up for their rights (From here onwards, you are encouraged to listen to Bob Marley’s Stand Up For Your Rights). In the end, their efforts didn’t go to waste. The land status for that particular area…was left frozen and it was kept  frozen for nearly 2 decades until it was unfrozen last year.

During the time upon which the land status was in limbo, the Dayaks there planted various crops on that land, cultivating them and some started to build their new homes there. For them, they felt like the battle was won. There was still however, the small matter of trying to acquire legal rights to this area.

The opportunity only came when the state government announced its initiative to survey out NCR perimeters. The Dayaks saw that chance and immediately wanted to seize this opportunity. They set out to find a way to release the ‘frozen’ status that they fought so hard to get coz they realized an official request for a perimeter survey wouldn’t be granted if the land status was still ‘frozen’.

So now, the opportunity to release the ‘frozen’ status came in the form of a visit made by the Malaysian Prime Minister to Bau, this issue was raised and so in the spirit 1 Malaysia, our PM granted that wish. Here everyone was jubilant, “Huuurrrrrraaaaaaaah!!!”

But right after the land ‘frozen’ status was lifted the landowners suddenly received a memo saying that the area was soon to be developed as technical institute. Yes, the land was no longer ‘frozen’ but vultures swoop into their bounty faster than the predators that made the kill. So in the wise words of our elder, “Sak sai nyam ingan”.

So what is there to do for these poor Dayaks now? It’s like leading the race only to lose a couple of steps from the finish line. Will this be the fate of all our ancestral lands in the future? I have a bad feeling it is. The reason is simple – the bottom line of land ownership.

What’s the bottom line?

All land in the state belongs to the state government of Sarawak.

When we say something like, “This land is mine; it was handed down to me by my father and his father before him.”

That’s all fine except that the perception of ownership has actually been blurred by our own ignorance.

Not a single individual has any real ownership of any land. We are only given the ‘rights’ to occupy it. This means, some other higher authority gives you that ‘right’ and this same higher authority can ‘take’ it. That’s the real status of our land in Sarawak. So you see, we are never ever truly on the winning end of it. We can only try to fend it off for as long as we can bear (Do sing to the tune of Let It Be by The Beatles now).

What a sad fate we have over our own physical inheritance.