Baru Bian Cabar Taib Mahmud Berdebat (NCR Land Isu)

KENYATAAN AKHBAR UNTUK DIEDARKAN SERTA MERTA.
Oleh Baru Bian.

Pada hari Sabtu 26 Februari yang lalu, Pengerusi Pimpinan Negeri PKR Baru Bian mencabar Ketua Menteri Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud untuk berdebat mengenai isu NCR yang telah dikatakan “isu lapuk” oleh Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, Menteri Kedua Perancangan dan Pengurusan Sumber dan Menteri Kemudahan Awam.

Pada hari Isnin, 28 Februari, Ketua Menteri, seperti yang dilaporkan oleh akhbar Borneo Post, telah bersetuju untuk menyahut cabaran itu tetapi dengan syarat bukti-bukti perlu dikemukakan terlebih dahulu.

“Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Ketua Menteri kerana menyahut cabaran kami untuk berdebat. Kami berharap kebenaran akan diketahui oleh umum menerusi debat seperti itu nanti,” kata Bian.

“Mengenai permintaan Ketua Menteri akan bukti-bukti, kami ingin memberitahu beliau bahawa segala-galanya sudah kami sediakan. Bukti-bukti itu tidak akan kami kemukakan sekarang kerana ianya akan menghambarkan tujuan sebenar berdebat. Namun, kami ingin menarik perhatiannya bahawa bukti-bukti yang amat banyak yang telah kami kemukakan ke mahkamah untuk lebih 200 kes NCR yang belum lagi didengar yang mana Attorney-General juga menyedarinya. Kami juga akan mengemukakan bukti-bukti tambahan kepada bukti-bukti yang ada di mahkamah, ke debat untuk menyokong kes kaum asli yang kehilangan tanah-tanah NCR mereka, dan isu ini bukanlah isu lapuk,” kata Bian.

“Kami berharap Ketua Menteri tidak akan berpura-pura jahil akan bukti-bukti itu sebagai alasan untuk mengelakkan debat itu,” kata Bian.

“Dengan kesanggupan Ketua Menteri untuk berdebat, kami ingin mencadangkan beberapa tarikh padanya: Sabtu 5 Mac, Ahad 6 Mac atau Khamis 10 Mac. Masa dan tempat adalah pilihan beliau. Ketua Menteri, sila pilih satu tarikh,” kata Bian.

“Kami juga ingin mencadangkan para akademik Sains Sosial UNIMAS yang begitu arif dan faham akan isu-isu NCR untuk mempengerusikan debat itu nanti. Kami seterusnya mencadangkan agar debat itu diadakan di tempat awam yang luas seperti Borneo Convention Center Kuching atau di Stadium Perpaduan di Petrajaya bagi memudahkan orang awam datang dan mendengar pandangan dan pendapat Ketua Menteri dan saya sendiri,” kata Bian.

Ketua Menteri juga dipetik sebagai berkata “Kita akan akur dengan sebarang keputusan mahkamah walaupun tidak memihak kepada kerajaan” semasa menghadiri Perhimpunan Agung Tahunan SPDP pada hari Ahad 27 Februari di Bintulu sebagaimana dilaporkan dalam portal Sarawak Update (Jumpa saya Atau ke Mahkamah).

“Sahutan kami adalah terang dan jelas: tarik balik semua rayuan semula Kerajaan ke atas kes-kes NCR yang telah dimenangi oleh orang-orang asal. Keputusan-keputusan mahkamah telah memihak kepada orang-orang asli itu, tetapi kerajaan tetap berdegil merayu untuk menentang kes-kes itu. Adakah Ketua Menteri akan mengarahkan Attorney-General untuk menarik balik semua rayuan itu serta-merta dan berpegang kepada kata-katanya itu, atau adakah kenyataannya sempena Perhimpunan Agung Tahunan SPDP itu bersifat retorik semata-mata untuk mengelirukan rakyat lagi?” tanya Bian.


Baru Bian says he is ready to debate with Taib
By Adib Zalkapli


KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian (pic) said today he was prepared to present evidence of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land grabs by the state government during a public debate.

Bian said he thanked the Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud for his willingness to accept the debate challenge and asked for it to be held as early as next week.

“As for the Chief Minister’s request for proof and evidence, we would like to inform him that our evidence is ready. The evidence cannot be revealed now or else there would not be a need for a debate,” said Bian in a statement.

“However, we are happy to draw his attention to the overwhelming mountain of evidence already submitted in court for over 200 NCR cases still pending to date which the Attorney-General is fully aware of.

“We will also be bringing additional supplementary evidence on top of the evidence already submitted in court to the debate to further support our case about natives’ loss of NCR lands and that this is not an old issue,” he added.

Bian had originally issued the challenge last Saturday for a debate with the government on NCR land seizure allegations.

Taib who has been in power for 30 years, however, said yesterday that he was only willing to debate if Bian could offer evidence of the land grabs.

His willingness to debate on NCR land comes just five months before government’s mandate expires.

“We hope the Chief Minister is not pretending to be ignorant of the evidence as an excuse to avoid or evade the debate,” said Bian.

He also repeated the party’s stand for the state government to withdraw all its cases against the natives over the NCR land grab.

“Our response is loud and clear; withdraw all government appeals against NCR cases won by the natives immediately,” said Bian.

“The courts have decided in favour of NCR landowners but the government still insists on appealing against these cases,” he added.

A lawyer by profession, Bian has been representing Sarawak natives in their attempt to stop the state government from acquiring their NCR land.

In September last year, the Kuching High Court ruled in favour of residents in seven longhouses in rural Sarawak who were about to be evicted from their land to accommodate the government’s plans to declare some 27,500 hectares of land in Ulu Sebuyau as a national park.

Early this month, the Court of Appeal ruled against a timber company, the Forestry Department and the Sarawak government for encroaching into land classified as the Penans’ NCR.

The NCR was enshrined in the Sarawak Land Code 1958, which recognises the natives’ collective ownership of land around their settlements for agriculture and hunting purposes.


From The Malaysian Insider