Trouble for Taib in Tebedu
By Sarawak Report
Sarawak Report has received an exclusive dossier of photographs showing the full extent of the violence and anger that has broken out in the normally quiet, law-abiding communities of Tebedu, Serian.
The trouble broke out a fortnight ago, as Taib’s logging raid on this valuable area of remaingin virgin jungle got under way.
Village headmen were threatened and there was an unprecedented attack on the machinery and transportation trucks belonging to the logging company. The loggers, mostly foreign workers of course, had fled in advance.
t has already been reported that this rare outbreak of resistance by the normally timid and extremely impoverished Bidayuh community resulted in the torching of 4 lorries, heavy machinery and 5 buildings for housing the foreign workers.
A bridge that had been used to enable the transportation of wood has also been damaged. Our pictures now reveal the extent of the destruction carried out by some 500 villagers from 10 affected longhouse communities.
A representative has told Sarawak Report that the action was born out of desperation and a sense of deep anger and betrayal by a united community against what they rightfully regard as an illegal raid on their homelands and the territory they live off.
“We had tried every other method to stop them, but nobody took any notice” the spokesperson explained.
Indeed, over the past few months representatives from the villages have filed two police reports demanding a halt to the invasion of their native customary rights territory, which have been ignored. The communities have also written numerous letters to State and Federal authorities, which have also been unanswered.
