Penan Muslims set up blockade at Bintulu, six held

Six Penan Muslims were detained by police last Wednesday under suspicion of setting fire to a plantation where they had set up a blockade to demand that the land be returned to their families.

The six were picked up by the police on May 16 after the plantation developer, Sebekai Plantation Sdn Bhd, alleged that they had set fire to the plantation.

They were released yesterday afternoon at 11am after being questioned by the police on the alleged incident.

The group, which comprised about 30 Penan Muslim families, had set up a blockade at Kawasan Sebekai, Labang, Bintulu since May 10, 2012 to lay claim to the plantation land there as native customary rights (NRC) land.

In a telephone interview with Malaysiakini, the group’s representative, Ismawi Ishak, said they were released as there was no proof that they were involved with the incident.

He claimed that they did not know of any fire occurring in the plantation.

Sebekai Plantation Sdn Bhd took over the land six years ago, and after struggling to reclaim the land they decided on setting up a blockade, according to Ismawi.

The group is demanding compensation for any losses suffered as well as the return of the land, which is an palm oil plantation.

However, he declined to quote a specific figure on their losses, clarifying that they were still in discussion with several lawyers.

When asked if they would pursue the case in court, Ismawi said they would wait to see if there was any progress being made, adding that they were still in the process of identifying a lawyer to represent them.

Dialogue session

On May 15, the group had a dialogue session with the plantation developers, facilitated by the local district officer.

Ismawi said that they were still awaiting a decision from the Land and Survey Department, but criticised the conduct of the developer’s representative at the dialogue.

“In front of the district officer, they speak nicely. But behind his back, when they are talking to us, the words they used were kurang ajar (uncouth),” he said.

According to him, the representative was not part of Sebekai Plantation Sdn Bhd’s management, but rather a consultant employed by the company to attend the dialogue session.

He also alleges that the developer had attempted to intimidate them by sending “samseng” (gangsters) after them several times.

The gangsters had tried to provoke the group, which had set up a tent near the blockade to monitor it.

They chose not to engage them and instead called the police to drive them off.  

“I would like to thank the police,” said Ismawi, adding that they had been very cooperative with them in helping maintain security around the blockade.