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©The Star (Used by permission)

MIRI: The Sarawak Government has been served with a court injunction restraining any of its enforcement agencies from any further demolition of the homes of Bakun folk who had been issued eviction notices by the State Land and Survey Department.

Bintulu-based lawyer Paul Raja, who is representing a section of the affected Bakun people, served the injunction on the State Secretary’s Office and the Sarawak Attorney-General’s office yesterday morning following his successful application for the order in the Bintulu High Court.

Raja applied for the injunction following urgent appeals from the people in Bakun who had been issued eviction notices by the department.

Some of their houses and farm huts had already been demolished.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, some 30 enforcement teams from the Bintulu Land and Survey Department bulldozed houses and farm huts in four different locations some 20km from the foot of the RM6bil Bakun hydro-electric dam project in Belaga district, about 250km from Bintulu town.

The department said that the houses earmarked for demolition were illegal premises built on state land.

The affected Bakun folks, some 400 families, said that they had native customary land rights in the region because they had been living there for more than 130 years.

On Wednesday, the affected Bakun residents staged demonstrations and blockades to stop the enforcement teams from destroying more structures, and also filed a police report against the department, as well as the court injunction.

Lawyer Paul yesterday told The Star the injunction covered all enforcement agencies under the jurisdiction of the state government.

“Since the State Land and Survey Department is a state government agency, it is also covered by the injunction and must respect the court order.

“The injunction restrains any of them (state enforcement agencies) from entering or destroying properties in the affected Bakun areas.

“The case will be brought up for mention in the court again in three weeks’ time,” he said.

A check with Catholic priest turned social activist Father Michael Jok confirmed that the enforcement units from the Land and Survey Department had halted their demolition works and had already withdrawn from the Bakun region, for now at least.

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