Report of the National Inquiry into the Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples 21 3.7 The kalabangan (in Dusun), kalavangan (in Murut) or taw (in Paitan) is designated community cemetery for the kampung or village. Cultivation or development of land designated as cemeteries are strictly prohibited and in some communities like the Orang Sungai of Kinabatangan, outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering caves which are used as communal burial areas. Areas also designated with such reverence are ceremonial spots referred to as tampat pamaabaza/ponogitan (in Kadazan), pulung (in Murut) or nyadu (in Paitan). Numerous ceremonial spots for different functions may be conserved within the kampung such as the sogindai/labot (related to headhunting ceremonies), tovud or springs, tobobon or salt licks, sungkadon bohuntung (rainbow ends), pamamaganaan do jangkil (“notice board” of kampung prohibitions). Ceremonies to perform the monubak are held to appease the spirits of the forest so that hunting expeditions are successful. Among the Paitan people, if serious violations of the adat occur, a pusangag will be set up for the monogit (cooling of the earth) ceremony. 3.8 Talun (in Dusun), himbaan (in Murut) or imbaan (in Paitan) is an area of primary forest within the boundaries of a particular village or kampung, and is normally owned and managed collectively by the community. Rights to the forest and the resources therein reside exclusively with the community that owns it, and people from neighbouring villages or outsiders are not allowed to hunt, collect wild vegetables and medicines, and cut bamboo, cane, creepers or timber. 3.9 In many villages, paun or communal grazing areas still exist. Rivers and streams are also communally managed and are considered open for access, although when management systems such tagal is imposed, community members are expected to abide by the rules that were agreed by all the members. Rights accorded to individuals/households 3.10 Generally, the individual or household within the kampung who first opens a certain forest area secures rights over that specific piece of land. Such rights are permanent and heritable. Individual plots are marked by natural boundaries such as streams, watersheds or ridges, and with markers which were planted (eg rolok plant) or erected (eg hugu or menhirs), much the same way as an inter-village boundary. Specific trees (eg mengaris) with wild bees nests) or caves with birds nest can be owned, and the descendants of an original tree or birds nest cave finder have rights over these resources. 3.11 The adat guides the community with regard to rights within a village territorial domain, individual acquisition of land for cultivation, land boundaries and inheritance. Boundary is an important point of reference when a dispute arises between groups or individuals. GAPS BETWEEN TRADITIONAL LAND TENURE SYSTEM AND THE SABAH LAND ORDINANCE 3.12 When the North Borneo Chartered Company was established in North Borneo (now Sabah) in 1881, its main mission was to achieve economic growth through the exploitation of the territory’s natural resources. However in doing so, it was obligated to respect native rights and customs. There were inherent conflicts between these two considerations as the very property rights and native legal institutions that Company officials were charged to respect soon became an obstacle to the expansion of commercial agriculture. As a result, the Company instituted a system of legal pluralism in which some native customary laws were supported while those that hampered the commercial exploitation of land were replaced with western legal concepts.19 19 See Amity Doolittle, Native Struggles over Land Rights: Property and Politics in Sabah, Malaysia, University of Washington Press, 2005, p82. chapter 3_a4.indd 21 7/5/13 6:43 PM