Just as the Borneo Project's community mapping program in Sarawak expands and has been bringing exciting new legal victories, the very ability to make a map is now under serious threat.

As we reported in the last issue of the Borneo Wire, an astounding indigenous rights victory was won in the Rumah Nor court case in May 2001. The Sarawak High Court ruled against a tree plantation company responsible for bulldozing the land belonging to an Iban village called Rumah Nor. A community-made map was the key piece of evidence in the case.

While this ruling by the highest court in Sarawak sets a major legal precedent and overturns a number of existing laws that limit indigenous land rights, the Malaysian government has appealed the case, and a federal court will review the verdict in another year or two.

In early November, however, the government also struck back through legislative means, passing a new law designed to undermine community-based mapping and prevent villagers from defining and defending their land rights in the courts. This new law, the Land Surveyor's Bill 2001, now requires that all map makers be certified by the Director of Lands and Surveys--a politically appointed position. Mappers without certification face steep fines and up to three years imprisonment if caught mapping without permits. Furthermore, certification can be revoked at any time, for any reason

Activists react

When questioned by the media on this law, Meena Raman, Executive Director of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), stated: "this law is shocking and will definitely have serious repercussions on our mapping work. The crucial parts are the limitation on cadastral surveys of land and the penalties for the 'offense' of 'practicing illegally as a surveyor'. These provisions are a reaction to the Rumah Nor victory and are attempts to defeat the right of indigenous people to determine their boundaries."

Jok Jau Evong, also from SAM and winner of the 1998 Conde Nast Environmentalist of the Year Award, further explained that, "at first glance, the law appears to be a reasonable set of rules regulating the surveying profession, since it creates a Land Surveyors Board to regulate the activities of land surveyors. However, closer examination of the wording shows that the law has a devastating impact against the natives' ability to defend their land.... In Sarawak, numerous non-governmental bodies have always assisted in community mapping activities for the natives, especially those who are poor and do not understand their rights." But he explained that under this "very regressive and oppressive" law, SAM's ability to provide this assistance is under threat.

New law appears as mapping movement sees new growth

The one consolation about the new law is that it shows how effective community mapping has been. There was no community mapping in Sarawak at all when the Borneo Project began training mappers seven years ago. Since then, several local NGO's, including SAM, IDEAL and the Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS), have mapped dozens of villages with the experienced local mappers trained by the Borneo Project. In the wake of the Rumah Nor case, other NGO's in Borneo have expressed great interest in developing mapping programs. Dozens of new lawsuits against logging and plantation companies are in the works, and all of them need maps showing community boundaries and the areas trespassed by companies.

Responding to this need, the more experienced NGO's were in the midst of training a new wave of mappers when the law dropped like a bombshell in early November. SAM had just trained eight new mappers from all parts of Sarawak with funding and support from the Borneo Project's mapping program. Just two weeks later, IDEAL trained another four new mappers. Later in November, all Sarawak NGO's involved in community mapping formed an agreement to increase cooperation and share resources.

Orchestrating a Response

Since the sudden passage of this law, Sarawak NGO's have grappled with how to respond. There was no opportunity to oppose the legislation, because the ruling government party controls nearly all seats in Sarawak's state legislature. In fact, this particular law swept through the legislature without debate on the first day of the new legislative session--a mere three days after being publicly announced.

Sarawak's NGO's all agree that mapping work should not stop. Their lawyers are optimistic that this law can be challenged and eventually overturned, though it will be a long and costly process. For instance, according to the new law, every map made by certified mappers must be approved by the Director of Lands and Surveys before it can be used in the courts. Thus, the law may be unconstitutional by usurping the power of judges to determine whether community maps will be permissible as evidence or not.

In the meantime, community mapping proceeds as usual, but with several specific new approaches. First, more maps need to be made by the people living in villages under threat, and fewer by outside mappers from local NGO's. This means that many more villagers will have to be trained in advanced mapping skills.

A second approach is to help experienced community mappers gain official certification. This will require additional training and course work in surveying. We will then see if the government arbitrarily precludes community activists from gaining certification. A third option is to hire licensed surveyors. This would require additional funds and it may also be difficult to find licensed surveyors who are willing to risk their professional reputation for the politically unpopular cause of native land rights.

Global impact

Since the early 1990s, the ever-shrinking size and cost of Global Positioning System (GPS) units and the increasing ease of using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology have allowed anyone in the world to make accurate, low-cost maps. Today, community mapping efforts are going on in almost every country of the world. The Land Surveyor's Bill 2001 not only assaults community mapping in Sarawak, but also threatens all of these similar efforts across the globe.

We have consulted with numerous mapping and legal experts, and it appears that no country has ever passed a law like this one. If this law goes unchallenged and achieves its purpose of stopping community mapping, it may prove an unfortunate inspiration for other repressive governments.
Furthermore, Malaysia is part of the British Commonwealth, and the laws in one Commonwealth country can serve as legal precedent in another. It is exciting that the Rumah Nor case may assist the recognition of land rights elsewhere. However, the flipside is that the Land Surveyor's Bill could also be precedent setting in dozens of countries, including India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

Help save community mapping!

The Land Surveyor's Bill must be challenged as an unconstitutional breach of legislative authority. It must be challenged in the courts. It must be challenged with international pressure and in the court of public opinion. And most importantly, it must be challenged on the ground by the communities who are most affected.

The urgency of this mapping work cannot be overstated. Many community-initiated lawsuits have been working their way through the court system for years, and more of these cases will be decided in the near future. All of these cases will depend on community maps. Meanwhile, vast tracts of indigenous lands are still being allocated for logging and industrial tree plantations without the informed consent of the local inhabitants. According to one local lawyer, only five percent of the communities who need legal assistance in Sarawak receive it.

Your support is needed to challenge this new legislative hurdle and continue the struggle for rainforest protection and indigenous peoples' land rights in Sarawak and beyond. To keep the mapping program alive and moving forward, we have to redouble our efforts. We need to greatly increase our support to local organizations in order to meet the challenge of the Land Surveyor's Bill and intensify legal outreach, training and advocacy programs.

Grants and individual contributions to Save Community Mapping can be made through the Borneo Project. Checks made out to the Borneo Project should be sent to: The Borneo Project, 1771 Alcatraz Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94703. Secure donations can also be made online at https://www.earthisland.org/borneo/donate.html.