KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s highest court Tuesday allowed indigenous tribes people from Borneo the right to challenge the acquisition of their ancestral land, in what campaigners hailed as a historic test case.Their legal battle for native title began 12 years ago after the state government of Sarawak on Malaysian Borneo requisitioned land for the controversial Bakun dam and a timber pulpmill.The Federal Court said it will begin hearing the arguments on April 28. Two separate cases, dealing with each of the Borneo projects, are being heard in tandem.
The test case has been brought by members of tribes including the Iban, Kayan, Kenyah and Ukit peoples, some of the many ethnic groups living on Borneo, which is split between Malaysia, Indonesia and the sultanate of Brunei.
The outcome would have major implications for around 200 cases currently lodged with lower courts, where indigenous people are fighting against the state for allegedly grabbing their ancestral land.Eight of the claimants held a silent protest outside the court to demand justice and compensation for their land, which has been flooded by the vast Bakun dam and earmarked for the pulpmill that was planned but never built.
To reach the court, they had to walk from their jungle homes in the Borneo interior, then make a three-hour boat journey and a four-hour road trip before reaching the coastal town of Bintulu and then flying to Kuala Lumpur.
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