Three Activists Shot At Peaceful Protest in Sarawak

by Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS)

During a peaceful protest against the destruction of their lands by an oil palm plantation company, the Malayasian police opened fire on the Dayak Iban people without warning, using M16 rifles and pistols. One person was killed and many others severely wounded since the attack which that happened in the state of Sarawak on December 19, 1997.

The small Iban community, living about 100 kilometres from the town of Miri, has opposed the destruction of their native customary lands by the oil palm plantation company Empressa Ltd. and their contractors. The forest-dwelling peoples of Sarawak depend on the lands surrounding their longhouses for growing food as well as obtaining building and other materials. Losing their land would cost their livlihoods, culture and very existence. The state government has earmarked more than 1.5 million hectares of land for conversion to oil palm plantations.

Without notifying or consulting the Iban, the Land and Survey Department issued a provisional lease to Empressa. The first thing the local people knew of the establishment of an oil palm plantation was when the company moved in with its bulldozers and started to clear the land. The people went to the local police station and requested that the police stop Empressa and its contractors from operating. The people visited two police stations, neither of which would accept the report detailing their objections. In the mean time, the company continued with its operations. The Iban wrote letters to the Land and Survey Department and other government departments requesting that the lease be withdrawn or revoked. However, no action was taken by the police or other government authorities, and the companies continued to clear the land.

Failed to get any response, about 300 Iban put up a blockade to protect their land. The blockade was destroyed. Left with no other alternative, they detained three bulldozers belonging to the companies, which they kept safely at their longhouse.

The actions of the people were designed to stop Empressa from operating and to initiate a dialogue with the company. The company responded by calling in the police. After a visit from a truck load of police on December 18, the people refused to return the bulldozers because the company still had made no promise to stop working on the peoples land.

The following day, acting without any court order, warrant or summons, the police took it upon themselves to retrieve the bulldozers from the Iban at their longhouse. The police returned in greater force but without identification, and armed with M16 rifles, side arms and batons. They were recognised by the local people as being from peninsular Malaysia, indicating that the action of the officers had the sanction of the federal government as well as the Sarawak State government.

The people of the village gathered peacefully outside of their longhouse when the police arrived. They held a banner tied between two poles bearing the statement, "Land is Our Life." The people were reportedly smiling and joking with each other, enjoying the party-like atmosphere of the protest. Offerings were also being made to the ancestors, to cleanse the spirit and provide greater protection to the people.

The banner was to act as a line over which negotiations with the company and the police officers could take place. After the exchange of a few words, however, one of the officers rushed forward and tried to arrest the headman of the Iban longhouse. At the same time, he ordered the other officers to charge and to open fire on the unarmed villagers gathered to hear the negotiations. A struggle ensued between the police and the 63-year-old headman and the people.

The first person was shot just as the commotion of the arrest of the headman began and the order to fire was given. Then another member of the community was shot. Shouting that he has been shot, he asked the people to defend themselves and ran to his room in the longhouse to get his a machete and jumped back to the ground where the shooting was taking place. He was then shot again attempting to defend the other people of the community. As he was about to collapse he swung his machete, cutting one officer. Unbelievably, while laying on the ground, he was shot a third time at close range in the side with an M16!

As the police continued firing into the crowd of unarmed villagers,another person was shot in the abdomen. The first person to be shot died of a bullet lodged in his head after five days in a hospital. He was married with three children. The two other victims are in the hospital. Other injuries were sustained by members of the community who were savagely beaten by the police. The headman's left arm was severely injured after being struck with a baton.

In all, six Iban villagers were arrested and detained including a 13 year old. Twenty-two other Iban from neighboring communities were also detained briefly between December 19 and 23 . All of the people were eventually released without charge but ordered to appear at the Magistrate's court in Marudi.

Since the attack on the Iban, the area around the longhouse and the only road leading to the longhouse is heavily patrolled by police. A helicopter is also surveiling the area. People trying to get to the longhouse have been denied access. The chief of police has been to the longhouse to arrest 11 more people. The people in the longhouse are scared of what is to follow given the shooting incidents and abuse they have received from the authorities and are desperately appealing to the international community for support.

Please send letters to the following people:

YAB Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs,

Jalan Dato Onn,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Fax at 60 3 230 6540 / 255 6264 / 230 0786. YB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak, Tingkat 14, Wisma Bapa, Malaysia, Petra Jaya, 93502 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Fax at 60 82 441 975 / 440 500 / 492 288. The Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak, Judicial Department, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Fax at 60 82 417 322.

Please send a copy of your letter to:

The Borneo Project, Earth Island Institute, 1916 A Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA 94703 USA; (510) 705-8987; fax: (510) 705-8988; e-mail: borneo@earthisland.org.