Land plundering in Sarawak, Dayak leaders, wake up!

The mass plundering in Sarawak is getting worst. First they took the lands to built the dams, then they took the lands for logging, now even native customary rights (NCR) lands are being taken away from the rightful and traditional owners.

Just what are the Dayak political leaders in Sarawak doing nowadays? Well, most of those in the state Barisan Nasional (BN) are either sleeping on their jobs or they just close one eye to whatever is happening outside there.

First, Sarawak National Party (SNAP), Dayak-based party was the symbol of Dayak unity in Sarawak until the party was broke up into various factions, and then emerge Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) when the later also finally went into de-registration following intense factional tussle within the party for leadership.

After PBDS' demise, the leaders of this defunct party went on to form Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak People's Democratic Party (SPDP) with both claiming to be the sole and legitimate representatives of the Dayak community. The state BN decided to admit both PRS and SPDP into the coalition.

Despite being component party members of the state BN and having its leaders appointed to the state cabinet, both PRS and SPDP leaders continue to rival and outdoing each other in order to seek the attention of the state BN chief Taib Mahmud who is also the current chief minister. What does Taib care about on Dayak unity? Taib was happy that the Dayaks are continuing its disunity inside and outside the BN fold.

The Sarawak chief minister and his party Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) has long being the prime suspect of being a key instigator inside the Dayak politics, by ensuring the community are being divide and rule in order to benefit only the PBB in particular. In doing its split up, PRS and SPDP leaders are being well-fed to ensure that they ignore the plights and grievances of their community down there.

By ensuring PRS and SPDP continuous political rivalry within the BN continues, PBB leaders took this opportunity to venture into plundering businesses in all the lands that are owned by Dayaks, Penans and the rest of the natives in the state. The NCR lands were not spared. Despite protest and all those efforts carried out against these plundering activities, the Dayaks and Penans were all being collectively relocated by force into unfamiliar lands and locations to pave way for projects, constructions and loggings.

So, can both PRS and SPDP really protect and defend the Dayaks and the other minorities in the state? Some said "you can count on PBB for that job". What? Depending on PBB? The PBB is even worst. PBB despite named "bumiputra" in its party name, is not actually protecting the rights of the bumiputras in the state. PBB only creates a bunch of wealthy elites within its party ranks and that's it. They will continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the ordinary Sarawak folks out there.

Any rebellion or discontent by the Dayaks or any other communities in the state are systematically purged in order to prevent the widespread which would jeopardise the state government there. These communities were often put under some sort of "curfew", denied various communications, information and developments. In the last state elections, it has been proven that the natives in the state are still in the dark and BN took advantage of the situation. They managed to retain their seat in the government.

Only the Chinese community realized what the Sarawak BN has been doing all these years and they decided to vote out PBB's closest ally, the Chinese-based Sarawak United People's  Party (SUPP) to signify their mass protest against the state government and the ruling elites which they said had stayed too long and corruption is also squandering the state's coffers and natural resources.

We wonder, when are these Dayal political leaders going to wake up and realize that they have been used? When are these Dayak leaders going to regret their betrayal to their own community all these years? We know, the Dayaks are already fed up with their leaders' continuous politicking which are not benefiting the community at large.

If the Dayaks and the rest of the natives wanted a change in their communities, they must unite and in order to unite, they must discard all those outdated race-based politics and opt for a united stand against the present BN state government and its ruling elites in full force.