Bawin has alleged in a Facebook posting that he got into “trouble”, as Mais deputy chairman, after a court appearance on native customary rights (NCR) land.
After the Nor anak Nyawai case, he said, he was summoned to meet with the Sarawak attorney- general (AG).
“After the full trial was over, I was asked to meet the state attorney-general then to explain why I spoke differently in the High Court, and not according to what I was advised initially. I refused to meet him.”
He added: “Pemakai menoa and pulau galau, these two terminologies, have cost my life so dearly.”
Pemakai menoa refers to territorial domain while pulau galau are clusters of communal forest within the former.
Bawin added that he had no regrets in standing up against the Sarawak AG “for these two very important Adat of our forefathers”.
He recalled that several months before the judgment on the Nor anak Nyawai case, he met a very senior minister.
In actual fact, he said, “I did not know about this appointment”.
His former boss asked him to follow her (to the meeting), and so he did.
At the meeting, he recalled, he was given a pen and a piece of paper.
“The very senior minister advised me, in front of my boss and a community leader, to write a letter to the Sarawak AG,” said Bawin.
The minister, he claimed, wanted him to withdraw his statements, testimonies, explanations and definitions on Pemakai menoa and pulau galau, offered in court during the Nor anak Nyawai case.
The minister also wanted him to copy the letter to the director of the Land and Survey Department and the chief minister. “I was brave,” he said. “I did not do as demanded.”
“He looked rather angry but soon we left. Can you imagine, not only were other government agencies suppressing us, even our own race and people wanted Nor Nyawai to lose this case, without understanding the repercussions of losing the case. “
The ex-Mais deputy chief said “it was sad to see our people being bullied”.
“The other communities have little respect for the Dayak,” he said. “Please join our struggle.”
Turning to the Federal Court ruling on Dec 20, he wondered how the minister felt about the case which went against the Dayak. The Federal Court ruled that Pemakai menoa and pulau galau were incidental to temuda (cultivated land), and hence, Adat — customary law — did not have force of law on the two NCR land categories.
The Dayak were engaged in a struggle for whatever belonged to them, he said.
He cautioned his people that the consequences of being negligent (in the struggle) were far-reaching.