Native customs have no force of law, rules Federal Court

KUCHING: The Federal Court has ruled that native customs have no force of law to allow the Dayaks to own communal land and forests next to their cultivated farmlands.

In a majority judgment, three senior judges made the landmark ruling yesterday stating that there was no law in Sarawak that gives the force of law to customary rights claims by the Dayaks over forest reserves (pulau galau) and communal land or territorial domain (pemakai menoa) as native customary rights (NCR) lands.