By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Feb 20: The indigenous Baram communities, alongside non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have called on the Sarawak government to uphold indigenous rights, return customary lands, and prevent companies from entering indigenous territories without full community consent as they celebrate a significant victory—the withdrawal of a timber company from their lands.
The move follows the company’s decision to remove several of its timber concessions from the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), marking a breakthrough for communities that have long fought against logging encroachments on Native Customary Rights (NCR) land.
According to SAVE Rivers in a media release today, this milestone reflects years of persistent resistance from indigenous groups across Sarawak, who have challenged the company’s failure to obtain Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).
Recent findings by civil society groups revealed that several of the company’s forest timber licenses had been discreetly removed from the MTCS list of certified natural forests.
During a Feb 13 meeting with village leaders from the Gerenai Forest Management Unit (FMU), a company representative confirmed the decision to halt logging due to sustained opposition from communities and NGOs, as well as financial considerations.
The meeting was part of an inspection of MTCS-certified operations in Malaysia by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and the Dutch Timber Procurement Assessment Committee (TPAC), prompted by repeated reports of certification failures. However, only village leaders from the Gerenai area were included.
On Feb 15, local NGOs facilitated a separate meeting in Lepo’ Gah Tanjung Tepalit, a village at the forefront of resistance against logging and the Baram Dam. Around 70 community members from across the Baram region attended, eager to voice their concerns.
“We really hope this meeting will finally bring about positive change. I wanted to be here to show that whether certified or not certified, communities here have all suffered from logging activities,” said a community member who had travelled from the remote Penan village of Ba Data Bila to attend the meeting.
Penan leader Komeok Joe, who is the executive director of Keruan Organisation, reiterated the Penan communities’ call for a permanent withdrawal of MTCC certification and logging concessions, especially the Ravenscourt FMU.
“They have suffered enough from logging and lack of FPIC in the past,” he stressed.
For years, indigenous communities and civil society partners have exposed serious flaws in Malaysia’s timber certification process, citing inadequate consultations, disregard for customary land rights, and lack of transparency in the implementation of forest management standards.
SAVE Rivers managing director Celine Lim emphasised that communities are now demanding full recognition of their territories and an end to perpetual struggles against outsiders claiming operational rights.
“The crowd that gathered here are eager to voice their grievances over systems that rob them of their indigenous territories. They are jubilant that the company withdrew their forests and from the logging certification system,” she said.
When asked about the future of the land, a Forest Department representative stated that the government has mechanisms to determine land use.
Uding, a Kenyah-speaking resident of Lepo’ Gah Tanjung Tepalit, expressed the community’s firm stance: “If only I could speak Malay, I would tell them we do not want any logging activities in our forests any more. We just want it to stop.” — DayakDaily
