The plaintiffs failed to establish their native customary rights over the land due to lack of credible evidence and timely assertion of their claims.

[1] The plaintiffs claimed an area of land comprising 161.32 acres more or less situate at Sg Adong, Pujut, Miri as their native customary rights ('NCR') land. The location and boundary of their NCR land is edged in red and shown in a map marked as 'X' attached to the statement of claim.

[2] The plaintiffs pleaded that the second, third and fourth plaintiffs are the children of the first plaintiff. The eighth and tenth plaintiffs are the cousins of the first plaintiff whereas the fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth, tenth and twelfth plaintiffs are the nephews and nieces of the first plaintiff. The plaintiffs are Jati Meirek, they called themselves Malay and natives of Sarawak. The plaintiffs testified that they have inherited the NCR land from their parents and or grandparents who had settled on the land during the Japanese occupation in Sarawak.

[3] At the commencement of the trial the parties agreed to the authenticity of the documents in the bundles ofdocuments, the contents of the documents were subject to proof.

[4] The second and third defendants have produced TWO locality maps of the land claimed by the plaintiffs at Sg Adong (see pp 54-55 of BOD7). The NCR land claimed by the plaintiffs approximated to 85.9 hectares. Based on the aerial photographs taken in 1947, 26.8 hectares of the land claimed by the plaintiffs were still covered by virgin jungle whereas 58.9 hectares of the land had been cleared for cultivation. The cleared area within the claimed NCR land had increased to 62 hectares based on aerial photographs taken in 1961 (see p 55 of BOD7). As at 1961,23.8 hectares of the land within the claimed NCR land were still virgin jungle, had not been cleared for settlement or cultivation and could not be claimed by the plaintiffs as part of their claimed NCR land.

[5] The question is whether the grandparents of the first plaintiff had cleared and acquired NCR over the cleared areas of land as shown in this locality map as at 1947. The burden is on the plaintiffs to prove the acquisition or inheritance of NCR in accordance with the laws in Sarawak see SOP Plantations (Suai) Sdn Bhd v. Ading Ak Layang & Ors, .

[6] The first plaintiff died on 25 May 2013 at the age of 89 years old. The plaintiffs have included a statutory declaration of the first plaintiff, which was affirmed on 3 January 2013, in the bundle of documents marked as BOD1. In para 4 of the statutory declaration, the first plaintiff said that his father was Jaya bin Awang Abu Bakar and his mother was Halipah bt Jamban who had passed away at their house at Sg Adong at the end of the Japanese occupation. His father had a brother by the name of Daham, a foster brother Deka and foster sister Ot, all of whom had passed away.

[7] In para 7 of the statutory declaration, the first plaintiff said that his parents had seven children. He was the fourth child in the family. He was born in 1924. He said their parents adopted a son called Ot bin Jaya. All his siblings had passed away including Ot bin Jaya except his brother Ramli bin Jaya and himself. The first plaintiff said he was born on their NCR land.

[8] The first plaintiff said his father used to tell him that his grandparents had cleared and settled on the land during the era of the Brookes' Administration. He said his father continued to clear additional areas adjacent to the land. The first plaintiff said his family including himself had continued to farm the land until the present time. He said he started farming when he was six years old. He said subsequently his nephews and nieces came and joined him and his family to farm at the land. They continued to plant groundnuts, bayam, bittergourd, yam, maize, banana, pineapple, rubber trees and later, some oil palm trees.