THE Society for Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Sarawak (Scrips) has slammed the Sarawak government for trying to forcefully take over native customary forests belonging to the minority Tering-Berawan communities by converting those areas into national parks without their owners’ consent.
Scrips, which is a land-cum-human rights organisation, said what the state government was attempting to do to the Tering-Berawan was unethical and grossly unjust.
Scrips secretary-general Michael Jok said any move to use state national park by-laws to gazette native customary land without the permission of the indigenous natives living there was blatant victimisation.
“The attempt by the state to gazette the forests belonging to the Tering-Berawan as a new national park without the consent of these natives is nothing short of an act of forcefully grabbing the ancestral land of these natives.
“This is tantamount to forcing these natives to hand over control of their land to the state authorities. The Tering-Berawan are among the original tribes of not just Sarawak, but of Borneo Island. Their ancestors lived here in the forests many centuries ago, long before the British came and long before any state government was formed.
“The Gabungan Parti Sarawak state government cannot treat the Tering-Berawan or any other indigenous people in Sarawak like this. Scrips will give its total support to the Tering-Berawan if they stage protests to defend their forests,” he said.
Yesterday, the Tering-Berawan publicly objected to a proposed move by the state government to create the new Tutoh Apoh National Park, claiming that the intended move would see ancestral land being taken over by state authorities.
Tering-Berawan community leader Denis Along had met with officers of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation office in Miri to present an official letter of protest.
Along said his community had learnt that the proposed Tutoh Apoh National Park would be an extension of the present Mulu National Park, which is a world heritage site housing the largest cave system in the world. – August 8, 2024
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