Blog Post 3

In the article, (no author)”Ibans Defy the Grasp of Palm Oil Barons” published by Earth Island Journal, it describes the unfair conditions in Borneo, where the indigenous people are going to deal with. The government of Sarawak is trying to put an oil palm plantation on the land of the indigenous people of Borneo by force. The Borneo people were trying to block the roads so the government wouldn’t cut down their trees; however this caused many of the people to get thrown in jail. By taking away their land which provided food, shelter and income, the Borneo people are being forced to work at the oil companies. Even in the government efforts to break down the Borneo people, many of them still uphold their belief to their right to the land. One of the leaders of Borneo said to the court, “”We simply want the bulldozing to stop.”” This means that he wanted the court process to finish before any more trees would be destroyed. The BRIMA institute is trying to train the indigenous people to learn the legal system so they can defend themselves in legal land matters and human rights issues like putting someone in jail without cause. Overall, the people of Borneo are struggling to get their land back. They say they’re not against modernizing; they just want to be able to choose it while still being able to keep their ways of life.

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If I were to ask a question about this article I would say, when the people are getting jailed for protesting and protecting their land, after they get out of jail, do they protest again and what happens then? Something I found puzzling with this article was that I wasn’t sure how many different countries or tribes were helping them other than the BRIMA institution. I disagree with what the government is doing in Borneo. They should let the indigenous people live in their homes in the forests and not destroy any trees, even if there are some benefits to having the palm oil plantation. I think they should leave the land alone. I liked this article because everything that I read stuck in my mind and now I will know it forever. I also agreed about what the Iban man had to say. I would want to have the court go through its process before anything else can happen.