‘Arrest of NCR activists illegal’

An native customary rights lawyer in Sarawak has accused the Selangau police and a Sarawak Administrative Officer of abusing their power in remanding two siblings.

KUCHING:  Two native customary rights (NCR) land activists, were not only arrested for lodging a report against a company for illegally logging on their NCR land but also denied proper court procedures.

Matek anak Geram, aged 40, and his brother Tambi, 60, who are members of Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) were arrested last Sunday, and on Monday they were produced before a Sarawak Administrative Officer (SAO) who sat in as a magistrate.

The magistrate remanded them for seven days. When they appeared before the same magistrate again on Wednesday on another charge of criminal intimidation, the magistrate ordered a bail of RM3,000 each.

According to their lawyer, See Chee How, the whole process was “illegal” and both the police and the SAO of Mukah had abused their authority.

“The Police and SAO clearly abused their authority when they remanded them for seven days. This is clearly illegal,” said See, who is also Batu Lintang assemblyman.

Police report

Recounting the events today, See said that last Saturday the two brothers of Rumah Segudan, Kuala Balingian had stumbled across some logging activities on their NCR land. Upon investigation, they discovered that the  company had no permit to log trees.

The brothers then asked the loggers to stop their activities on the NCR land.

“When the loggers refused, Matek and his brother took a bundle of their machinery keys and handed them to the Selangau police. They also lodged a report at the police station.

“(But) on Sunday, the loggers went to the police station, took the keys and continued their logging activities despite protest from the longhouse folk.

“The longhouse folk demanded that the company pay them ‘penti pemali’ as compensation for disturbing peace or cease their activities.

“The loggers (instead) called the police who arrested the Matek and Tambi,” said See who is also Sarawak PKR vice chairman.