24 Chapter 3 | INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ PERSPECTIVE OF LAND and forest within a defined boundary (garis menua).25 Boundary is an important point of reference when a dispute arises between groups or individuals. The process of creating pemakai menua involves the ceremony of panggul menua.26 When the Brookes established a Government in Sarawak in 1841, this system of land tenure had long been in existence and during its 100-year rule, this system of land tenure was maintained and practised in the Native Courts. 3.24 Tanah umai includes all lands that are cultivated as farms, gardens, and fruit groves, including land left fallow or temuda. As a general rule, the household within the village that first felled the forest secures rights over specific pieces of land. These rights are heritable, passing down from one generation to the next household members. Individual plots are marked by natural boundaries (garis umai) such as streams, watersheds, ridges and permanent landmarks. 3.25 Temuda27 (in Iban, Tiboie in Bidayuh) refers to farm land left fallow on which there are secondary growths. When a temuda plot is under forest-fallow, any longhouse member is free to take firewood from it, or cut bamboo, cane, or gather shoots, wild fruits, edible leaves, fungi, tuber, or other uncultivated stuffs, without necessarily consulting the members of the household having cultivation rights over the land. There are various classifications of temuda, indicating its age.28 It should be noted that forest-fallow no matter how long it lasts is a form of land management system practised by the indigenous communities. 3.26 Fruit groves are an important aspect of indigenous resource tenure. Mawang or Tibawang (in Bidayuh) refers to a fruit garden or orchard and old abandoned settlement sites with various types of fruit trees growing around them.29 Mawang can be established on a communal or individual land. An individual who plants a fruit tree on a communal land establishes rights to it and those rights are inheritable by his descendants, but rights to the land resides with the community. Members of the community may collect fruits from the tree, but only with permission of the planter or his descendants. Failure to do so will render the person liable to provide pingasung, a form of restitution for a breach of the adat. Where an individual plants fruit trees on his own land, he establishes rights over both the trees and land. If at a later stage, there is more than one descendant investing their labour in the maintenance of the mawang, each will have equal rights of access to the fruits. If one of the descendants collects and sells the fruits without informing the others, he will lose rights to collect the fruits in the next season. If one of the descendants moves to another village through marriage or migration, he will lose rights to both the fruit trees and land. 3.27 Tembawai are old longhouse sites which have been abandoned, but contain various types of fruit trees. The person who planted the fruit tree on the tapak bilik (family apartment lot) and his descendants retain rights to it, but rights to the land are held by the community. 25 Gerunsin Lembat 1994, “Native Customary Land and Adat”, a paper presented the Seminar on NCR Land Development, Kuching, Sarawak, September 29 – October 3, 1994. 26 Panggul menua refers to the ritual ceremony performed to mark the opening of a territory for settlement, farming, and other activities. 27 Known as talun in Kayan Belaga and Western Penan, jekau in Kenyah and Eastern Penan, amug in Lun Bawang and Kelabit etc 28 For example, Adet Kayan-Kenyah 1994 classifies temuda as ba’e if the secondary growth is one year old, talunuk 8-15 years, talunaya’ 16-25 years, and talun gang 25 years and above. 29 See Robert S. Ridu 1994, “Mawang: Bidayuh resource tenure,” a paper presented at Workshop on Resource Tenure in Southeast Asia: Legal and Customary Aspects, RELC International House, 30 Orange Grove Road, Singapore 1025, August 10-12, 1994. chapter 3_a4.indd 24 7/5/13 6:43 PM