RANAU: A group of 50 villagers held a sacrificial rite at the site of Nunuk Ragang on Saturday in protest of an alleged encroachment into their ancestral land in Kg Tubau and Kg Kodop.
They claimed to be the seventh generation inheritors of Tubau and Kodop and chose the location to conduct the ritual as it is widely believed to be the origin of the Dusun race.
Lec’ by Jerus Saligi and Gasibin Samungkir, the people are staking Native Customary Rights (NCR) over a piece of land measuring 2952.84 acres that has been issued a title to a logging company.
According to them, the company has already begun felling trees and the activity has adversely affected the landscape of the area since then.
They argued that sinceTubau and Kodop are only about 28km from Nunuk Ragang, it supports their claim that they are the heirs of the land based on the belief that the Dusun race branched out to other parts starting from Nunuk Ragang.
The ritual on Saturday involved sacrificing a pig conducted by a bobolian or high priest, Puyun Lingadan from Keningau.
Although it was a peaceful gatherinl their intentions were not as passive as they appealed to the forces of nature to retalicted agains those who betrayed them and inflicted harm on the environment.
According to Jerus they had submitted a land application for the area for the purpose of agriculture but it was rejected in March 2006 on the grounds that the area was unsuitable due to steep slopes and prone to erosion.
When they discovered that a logging company had instead been issued a title for the area, they were devastated.
The villagers now claim ownership over the area on the basis of Native Customary Rights.
News Sabah Times
Tuesday July 26, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment