Baru Bian, the first Lun Bawang minister, fought hard for Sarawak natives' land rights

File photo of Baru Bian (second from left) at a protest for fight for Native Customary Rights lands in Sarawak.

KUCHING: Baru Bian, 59, the newly sworn-in Works Minister, is a lawyer who is best known for fighting several dozen court cases for over 25 years to defend native customary rights (NCR) land in Sarawak.

The Sarawak PKR chairman often had to struggle against powerful players with political and commercial "connections", who wanted to take over native lands for either logging or oil palm plantations.