Online petition for Native Land

Recently, Sarawak Dayak Iban Association Headquarters (SADIA HQ) has launched online petition to urge Sarawak State government to recognize 'Pemakai Menoa' and 'Pulau Galau' (Ancestral Boundary and Forest Reserve) of the indigenous people of Sarawak.

A pemakai menoa (also spelt pemakai menua), is an Iban term that refers to "a territorial domain of a long-house community where customary rights to land resource was created by pioneering ancestors.

The campaigner target 500,000 petitioners to pressure the government to fulfill State obligation by respecting the laws which give community on their rights on the natives land.

Online petition can be access through http://sadiahq.org/petition/petition.php.

Last September, the Federal Court has reserved its decision on the appeal by the Sarawak government against a decision by Court of Appeal on June 21, 2013, that recognised "pemakai menoa" and "pulau galau" as native customary lands (NCL) under the Iban "adat", or custom, in Sarawak.

Federal Court president Mohd Raus Shariff gave no date as to when the court would deliver the decision after hearing lengthy arguments by the state legal counsel Datuk J.C. Fong and prominent native land lawyer Baru Bian, who is representing Tuai Rumah Sandah Sabau of Rumah Sandah in Ulu Machan, Kanowit and eight other NCR landowners.