From Dayak Baru Weblog
Posting of YB Wong Ho Leng’s view:
What is in it for Dayak NCR Owners?
Have the “owners” of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land been paid their rightful or fair dividends for their participation in joint venture schemes? Or have they been short-changed, having first been sweet-talked into participating in the joint ventures, only to find out later that they would not get their rightful or fair dividends?
This is an area of concern, more so when it was reported in Malaysiakini on Dec. 5, 2008 of a protest by NCR owners in front of the Kuching High Court (See Malaysia Kini report entitled “Sarawak NCR landowners protest company let-down”).
Changgai of Rh Ranggung vs Niamas Istimewa Sdn Bhd
According to the report, more than 220 people from two Iban longhouses in Ulu Niah, Miri, staged the angry protest. They had signed a joint venture in 1997 with KTS Group subsidiary Niamas Istimewa Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Land Development Board, a statutory body and a shareholder of Sarawak Plantations Bhd, to develop 2,508 hectares of NCR land for oil palm.
New Concept of NCR Land Development
Under the New Concept of NCR land development scheme, the landowners would hold 30% of the equity, the government agency 10% and a private investor 60%. It was said that Niamas Istimewa Sdn Bhd had made an initial payment of 10% of the agreed sum but it has not paid a single sen of the 30% by way of unit trust shares to the landowners over the last nine years, even though the harvested oil palm has brought returns to the joint-venture (JV) company.
I feel duty bound to investigate and verify the matter reported. There is reason to help push our native friends out of the ring of poverty.
Meaningful NCR Land Development – DAP says:
No DAP leaders had ever been against meaningful NCR land development. The umpteenth accusations by the Deputy Chief Minister and Member for Layar, Alfred Jabu, that DAP has oppressed and suppressed the opportunity of the NCR landowners from participating in the government poverty eradication program in the rural areas has been a diabolical lie.
DAP’s ADUN for Kidurong, Chew Chin Sing, had spoken on the matter many times since 2001. DAP ADUN for Meradong, Ting Tze Fui, and ADUN for Batu Lintang, Voon Lee Shan, had also spoken a few times since their election in 2006. I had also spoken many times since 1996 for meaningful NCR land development, including obtaining the assurance from the Minister of Land Development, James Masing, to give priority to employ the local Ibans in oil palm plantations.
This is our way of speaking for the Ibans when their wakil rakyat are shy and meek, fearing of antagonizing their Boss. Our mission is to see that the Ibans get out of the cesspool of being the poorest folks in Sarawak, no thanks to the BN Government for their predicament.
Delay or Failure to pay Dividends by plantation companies
This is not the first complaint on delay or failure to pay the rightful share of dividends from plantation companies.
A year ago, a group of 20 Ibans complained that they had received very little dividends from their joint venture in Kanowit. I contacted the Minister (not Jabu) immediately. I was told that the lack of payment was because those Ibans did not work hard enough at the plantations! I was shocked by the answer but I had no means to verify.
Has money for rural development project being hijack into private account?
During the DUN proceedings on Nov. 5, 2008, DAP ADUN for Pending, Violet Yong, asked a Supplementary Question on whether there was a mechanism to ensure that money for development projects “are not siphoned or hijacked into private accounts”.
The issue pertains to corruption in the dissemination of development funds to constituencies but Jabu refused to give a straight forward answer. Instead, he reiterated his lie that “DAP has oppressed and suppressed the opportunity of the NCR landowners from participating in the government poverty eradication program in the rural areas”.
Question asked to Jabu in DUN by Wong not not given a proper answer
Since he started the issue, I asked Jabu whether the natives in the Kanowit plantations had been paid their fair dividends or not. The following is verbatim from the Hansard:
“Timbalan Ketua Menteri dan Menteri Pembangunan Infrastruktur dan Perhubungan dan Menteri Pembangunan Luar Bandar (Y.B. Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Alfred Jabu anak Numpang): Tuan Speaker, if you read and if you follow my movement, less than a month ago, on the second phase of paying the dividend over to the NCR landowners, I was participating with Yang Berhormat Datuk Gramong Juna distributing dividends to the NCR landowners joint-venture in Kanowit almost amounting to RM1 million. So I am surprise, Tuan Speaker … (Interruption).
Y.B. Encik Wong Ho Leng: My question is, have the natives got all the fair dividend or not? It is not a matter of RM1 million.
I had since checked with some of the NCR land owners in Kanowit. They maintained that they have not been given their rightful or fair dividends.
Jabu’s reply – blur and sweeping
From Jabu’s reply, the lingering questions remains, how much had been paid to these landowners during the first phase? Since the joint venture had commenced in the late 1990’s, why the payment of dividend is still only at “the second phase”? How many NCR land owners were to share this dividend which Jabu said “almost amounting to RM1 million”?
NCR Land Owners have not been fairly treated
As a matter of fact, I have always felt that the NCR land owners have not been fairly treated in the joint venture schemes. Many Ibans have complained that they were not consulted before entering into the joint venture, as consultations were only with their Tuai Rumah.
They have further complained that apart from providing the labour, they have little say in the decision making process, which would explain why dividends in some cases have either not been paid, or delayed. It is unfortunate that my comments in the DUN on 13th November, 1997 had fallen on deaf ears.
Suggested safeguards for NCR Land development
This was what I said:
“I propose that in order that the joint venture between the big corporations and the natives can be considered safe and meaningful, there must be the following safeguards:
“(a) the CEO (Chief Executive Officers) of all these body corporate should be natives;
“(b) the natives should be allocated at least 30% of the share or equities in these body corporate; and
“(c) the shares of these natives should carry full voting and participation rights.
“Only upon fulfillment of these conditions may the natives have an effective and meaningful say in the running of these corporate, including the incorporation of policies and the running of the joint venture. …“We are supportive of meaningful development, so that the disparity between the rich and the poor can be narrowed. “We also wish to see the Ibans, Bidayuhs and other native groups and other anak-anak Sarawak thrive in their business ventures, so that lives can be better off for them as well as their next generations. …“I am speaking on the NCR land as anak Sarawak, as bangsa Sarawak, in the spirit and wisdom of Martin Luther King, “One Nation, One Voice.”“These natives, whose land is the subject of our debate are our brothers and sisters, and I am duty bound to speak on their behalf when their own representatives are constrained because of Party whip.”
The matter concerning payment and receipt of dividends to the NCR land owners will have to be probed further.
Conclusion
The Dyaks Blog Final Analysis:
The above view came from a Foochow as good as we hope if it was said from a Dayak. Nevertheless Mr. Wong did present a good points, a damn good one, that surely strike any spineless Dayak ADUNs/ MPs to shame.
None of our own Dayak leaders dare to review all those plantation schemes is just beyond logic. Is there any conscience left at least to ask if it is simple right or wrong for our Dayak leaders? Cheating is cheating, there is no such thing as ‘grey area’ when trying to dupe the Dayaks but our own Dayak leaders put a blind eye on it.
It’s pathetic to note that J*bu even try to portray Dayak as lazy and deserve the low returns when at the first place the joint venture was mostly one-sided so how can you expect any initiative for Dayak to feel some sense of meaningful partnership when even the return itself you barely received it.
Initiative is like foreplay in which someone must get laid first so Salcra ought to very hardworking if they deserve to reap all the money to offset the allegedly ‘lazy’ Dayaks. When the new, gleaming Salcra headquarters at Jalan Kota Samarahan due to completion then it’s the time to see how J*bu will struggle to claim the palm oil money will be in ‘good custody’ and for ‘good use’.
Expect the rest of Dayak participants that put up their NCR lands to bring more smoked skulls for rituals then.
5 comments:
I strongly believed Afraid Jabbu is a liar as much as he is afraid to tell the truth...his name speak for itself.
More to be discovered of the abused and bullying tactic as far dayaks NCR land is concerned. And the dividend payment of millions is much of the publicity stint than what the owners actually got.
Dear Author,
Please do not forget that SALCRA is just the mirror of the oil palm project. You should investigate Sarawak Oil Palm or Sarawak Plantation Berhad and see his daughter there.
We, the NCR land ventures should forget the 30% share as according to Chin Kah Fui, the commodity price is decreasing.
Jabu will remain who he is but SALCRA is just a mask for Sarawak Plantation berhad and it's allied.
haha...jayau aja jabu nya...ndai tusah. nya meh perangai urang iban paling belik dlm dunya....semina tu aja lah jaku aku, ngarap ke new generation ila ulih ngubah nasib bangsa diri empu.
ukai anwar, ukai BN ulih ngubah nasib bala iban, tang utai nya datai ari diri empu. enti kitai buruk, sampai ila2 nda maju. untak kitai iban ptut berubah
Dayak's Guerilla Warfare
It's season greetings again, my Dayak folks. Time for Dayaks to spend and get drunk with the Chinese groceries ready to pile up their cheap beer stocks outside their shops for the Dayaks to scramble and grab all the craps. That's how wasteful for most of us Dayaks only for the Chinese traders to reap big profits from selling booze craps mostly from illegal shipments/ contrabands (yes, craps from China mostly) thanks to our ever-leechin' Customs Dept. Chivas Regal one litre for RM980 per carton box (dozen bottles) or San Miguel premium lager at below RM70 per carton bottles anyone? Right. You see Dayaks, the trick for selling craps in Sarawak is nothing sort of highly coordinated, concerted effort from traders, shipping agents, Customs (Malay, Dayak officers too), HengHua triad gangs all hand-in-hand to share the loots and to serve the demand from drunkyards like us Dayaks without ever selling the booze on fully-taxed price. The booze cartel in Sarawak don't have proper operation room, let alone to have a headquarters but their command chain is fluid, simultaneous, vigilant yet elusive enough to cover the whole trails. From the supply to the frontline, the key element here is stealth mode. This is a typical operation done much in a manner of guerilla warfare. Remember 'Guerilla Radio' song by Rage Against The Machine? It's the same booze too.
Guerilla warfare actually made prominent by Argentine-born freedom fighter Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and even detailed it all in his own book (banned here in Malaysia). If you think the Iran mullah being the first dude that called the Americans as 'The Great Satan' well Che Guevara probably the first person that openly wage war against American so-called inperialism, pseudo-capitalism so much that Cuban president and Che's foremost ally Fidel Castro can't even contemplate the increasingly popular Che Guevara that Castro sense personally a threat to his rule in Cuba so Castro let Che to base his struggle elsewhere. Che's guerilla warfare tactics initially against other American-backed neighbouring countries gaining acceptance and assistance from locals that share similar ambitions to oust puppet regimes, dictators from Argentina to Bolivia but the movement and Che himself finally face the death. The involvement of CIA operatives that backing the struggling Bolivian govt against Che summed up the degree of relentlesness by Che to fight till his death. He didn't even surrender but let his last words came before being shot, wounded, captured with both hands chopped off: "Shoot! You only try to kill a man!". This is a man with no military background but a medical scholar, free thinker, suffering from asthma, able to lead and influence greater than full 5 star army general for a cause that he willing to put his life with. Probably he is right when sensing the danger of American imperialism, a corrupt democracy and a false, crooked capitalism. But now all of us should accept the fact that a failed capitalism is no worse than a failed socialism where govt try to nationalise and bailout every failed corporate failures out of trillion dollars taxpayers money. A great nation of United States that eventually will consume itself to destruction. Che Guevara is right indeed in some sense, a man ahead of his time.
Che Guevara did not fall into guerilla warfare by chance but by his reaction on the poor people that being oppressed by dictators that claimed to be the custodian of the land while gooning on U.S. govt for handouts and supports. The only reason why Che failed in his struggle most probably due from Castro relucatance to send more funds to him when Castro slowly view Che's movement deviated from original agenda and Che himself over-obsessed by his own struggle that tend to operate more as left-wing paramilitary unit. But at least Che can show that guerilla warfare at best operated in more meticulous and subversive manner; the enemy cannot identify who and from where the opposition coming from. Che's failure by making himself easy prey to the CIA is a great lesson for other freedom fighters to pick from pieces, rebuilt it and launched it at great impact none other than has been done during Vietnam War. Yes, it's the infamous Tet Offensive. Simultaneous attacks across Vietnam cities that caught American forces by surprise. A serious blow to the American forces that took weeks to fight off the North Vietnam Army or Vietcong/ "VC" with the Americans claim of victory sounds hollow while VC proved again that the superior American forces somehow can be defeated. None of American intel operatives knew that such attack could be planned by the opposing VC casually in the least suspected place, a coffee shop to be precise. While the VC purportedly received much assistance from the northern supply routes(from Soviet via China) by the American G.I., but the fact is most Vietnamese all over supported VC. Those Vietnamese that fled with the American during mass troop withdrawals in 1975 were the former supporters of their French colonial masters. Or the American goons. The failure of U.S. in Vietnam war was due to one factor: the Americans simply don't know their enemy. It's goes back to basic by Sun Tzu's Art Of War - Know Your Enemy.
Certainly history is funny in some sense, repeat itself well. The Iraq war once again shows that U.S. never learn their lesson, still in denial mode just like when they tell the world that Vietnam war isn't a lost cause. The Iraq war also fought on pretext of terror and Islam fascism, as crude as blaming the fear of fast-spreading of communism to South East Asia by the Communist China with Soviet backing. U.S. govt should've been concentrating their military presence in Afganistan, keeping the Taliban mullahs out in the mountain caves while imposing the crippling economic embargos on sponsor nation like Pakistan and Iran until the mullahs left nothing but the stones and sands to eat. Only intelligence hold the key to fight war on terrorism. The reason why I indulge on guerilla warfare as relevent for Dayaks struggle against Yang Dikasihi is because the history from others taught us not to repeat the failures by adopting better strategies.The VC can easily poked the U.S marines into the jungle full of booby traps and underground tunnels spreading across Vietnam, hide their tiny body between the trees while carrying their AKs and then easily finish them off. Actually our Dayak past leaders (including opposition) somehow try to emulate this but lacking only one thing; that is they often make themselves an easy target/ open prey for Yang Dikasihi, the very same mistake done by Che Guevara that led his capture by the CIA. The VC meanwhile just keep their patience and employing guerilla warfares to keep frustrating the U.S. forces even by means of living in underground tunnels for ten years. Once again time and patience (a rare commodity among Dayaks) ultimately the deciding factors that made VC victorious in getting U.S. forces as common Vietnam enemy that lead their shameful withdrawal from the war full futility and simply a lost cause.
Now with the opposition try to gain momentum with Gabby Adit lead the way, the very important element is being elusive in carrying any subversive undertakings. All Dayaks may wish to get rid of Yang Dikasihi and take our belongings back but here in Sarawak the major financial benefactors remain the same, the Chinese timber barons. Currently they are still supporting Yang Dikasihi but rest assured that they hate George Chan (Taib's son, Sulaiman married to Anisa Chan, George's daughter FYI), the Chinese equivalent of J*bu for the Dayaks, as they view George Chan the stumbling block for the Chinese community to ever unite themselves. Dayak and Chinese oppositions can forge a better, formidable team and direct Yang Dikasihi once again the common enemy for all. It was the same thing happened when the U.S. keep pressing the South Vietnam people to fight against the VC when in fact it's absurd to fight your own kind, Chinese quarters of North Vietnamese against French quarters of Southern Vietnamese. The Chinese here were equally pressed to support SUPP under George Chan with certain Chinese business groups being held ransom or else risk losing their license, permits, contracts, perks, etc. all under one man direction and to serve him only: Yang Dikasihi. The Chinese will not tolerate anything that can damage their business future and slowly you will see DAP will receive more backings than SUPP. How this trend translate as common alliance for Dayaks? That is the elusive part. A part where Yang Dikasihi fear the worst. The fear that Yang Dikasihi can no longer see where his opposition attacks are coming from, more from the Dayak sides or the Chinese sides or both or simply no signs at all that when/ where simultaneous attacks would be carried out or not. The very reason why Ming Court Affair failed, apart of being duped by Yaakub, was due to the fear intended for Yang Dikasihi was not turned into Dayak's fun factor, much like the VC enjoying the Tet Offensive in full glory while sitting at coffee shops.
Both Che Guevara and the Vietcongs employed guerilla warfare tactics with relative success against the American forces. But the mullahs also do the same only for them to add elements of suicide bombers that drag the U.S. into Iraq as the world's most expensive video game. For us Dayaks, the gameplan is similar; simultaneous attacks, guessing tactics, being elusive, vigilant, but there's one thing that can be our own suicide bombers and it's coming from the govt itself: jokes from J*bu. That's why Dayaks must ensure continous nonstop criticism-turned-jokes by J*bu. The more the better it gonna irritating to all Dayaks. Remember, the VC launched Tet Offensive more or less as a fun factor rather than a fear factor. It's fun to see those G.Is scrambling everywhere looking for the VC while the VC themselves sit all day long eating noodles, chatting at coffee shops. It's not entirely in military form but more on the same substance we use as tactics in order to fight Yang Dikasihi. If Yang Dikasihi can put blind eye on JKR contract to his CMS then there's no difference if we give some talks, seminars, workshops to longhouse folks about potential large scale donkey farming on NCR lands. Some Dayaks can be suddenly full of intelligent ideas, share some jokes and forge close rapport after few rounds of beer and Chivas. Did I hear some OhhhHaiiiWooo? Right.
The Dyaks Blog Final Donkeys:
Time has change and so do our approach and the enemy as well. The recent shit-stirring in the ever-shameless Borneo Post news by J*bu against so-called Dayak bloggers for being 'unappreciative' toward Salcra (and demand respect to J*bu himself rather than EARN it) epitomised what we can view as the beginning of Dayak's guerilla warfare. Not physically using firearms, bombs but by using our own medium of interaction. While most of our Dayak oppositions regroup themselves now all over the state, all of us the Dayak bloggers doing bit of parts that the opposition may not have the priviledge or time in reaching the mass Dayak online. Govt can hide two things that prevent Dayak from knowing the truth about the plantation scams and other dopes; the calculator and English-BM dictionary, but govt can't fool the Dayaks all the time, at all places. Arms struggle definately out of question and never will be but Dayak should always do the opposite whenever the govt try to hide the truth, attack the whistleblowers, or try to intimidate any Dayak dare to criticise their wrongdoings by turning it into a joke. And the jokes tend to come from govt themselves and up to Dayaks to manipulate it, the same way the govt all these while manipulating the truth from Dayaks. From who, where, how, why, what factors are the main essence in carrying out guerilla tactics in our recent modern times. The past freedom fighters fought it in the jungles, battling urban warfare but doing it online is totally a new idea. Not new actually if you count how al-aqaeda communicate encryptedly in Arabic confusing FBI and CIA but we Dayaks are not that obsessed just to die in the name of growing the thickest beard while blow your ass off and become martyr to receive virgins as reward in heaven. No, we Dayaks just want to make sure that apart from keeping Bible at home or longhouse, every Dayak must know the importance of keeping a calculator and English-BM dictionary all the time. Check if the word 'lucrative' equals the low, crappy returns from plantation schemes which being propagated by govt to eradicate poverty or not. For Dayak's guerilla warfare, these are our weapons basically and the attack can come from anyone, anywhere, anytime, simultaneous or constant even J*bu and Yang Dikasihi feeling the heat now.
Mr. Tbsbidayuh, allow me to correct on your spelling of SALCRA. It is not that you're wrong. The word SALCRA is itself wrong. The correct spelling should be SAL KERA.
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