PBDS Baru supportive of a review
KUCHING: President of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDS Baru) Cobbold John Lusoi is supportive of the state PKR’s move in seeking a review of the Federal Court’s decision last Tuesday regarding the ‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’ issues.
According to him, a review was the best answer for Dayaks in Sarawak as the ‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’ were part and parcel of the native customary rights (NCR) over hundreds of years.
The Federal Court said ‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’ had no force of law and the argument was founded on the state government’s argument that they had not been included in the codified Adat Iban 1993 (AI93) or any other written laws.
“This argument is wrong on many reasons. AI93 is not a comprehensive (complete) codification. There are other adat which are not included in the AI93,” he added.
‘Pemakai menoa’, although not directly mentioned in the AI93 does provide for the practice of pemakai menoa as the custom of pemakai menoa has always been consistently applied by the Native Courts even up to the Native Court appeal.
In Cobbold’s opinion, it was rather unfortunate that the Federal Court judges who are Malayans failed to appreciate the local customs, labelling them as ‘ignorant’ or simply ‘ignoring customs applied in the Native Court of Appeal’.
“The panel of judges should comprise senior Borneo judges who are more familiar with pemakai menoa and pulau galau. Failure of the court to recognise ‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’ also underscores the ignorance of the judges on the importance of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) which forms the basis of the native rights over their NCR lands, as it was among the conditions for the formation of Malaysia that NCR lands be recognised,” he said.
In a three-to-one decision, the apex court allowed the appeal by the state government and set aside the orders of the Court of Appeal and High Court that recognised NCR over ‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’.
The respondents in the case were Tuai Rumah Sandah Tabau of Rumah Sandah in Ulu Machan, Kanowit and eight other NCR landowners. They claimed they had customary rights over 2,712 hectares of ‘pemakai menoa’.
Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Shariff who led the three-member panel hearing the appeal explained that although the common law recognised the unregistered native customs, the state statutes and orders or proclamation made by the Rajahs and subsequently by the legislature of Sarawak did not appear to have recognised the custom or ‘adat’ of ‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’.
On Friday (Dec 23) state PKR announced that they would seek a review of the decision.
According to its chief Baru Bian, also Ba Kelalan assemblyman, he believed there were grounds for the decision to be reviewed while asserting that such ruling affected every community rather than only the Ibans in the state.