Harrison Ngau Laing
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Harrison Ngau Laing (born 1959) is a Malaysian environmentalist and politician, a member of the Kayan tribe. He was awarded the
Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists. History Awardees are named from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, an ...
in 1990 for his work to prevent
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...
of the
Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...
region. He was a member of the
Malaysian Parliament The Parliament of Malaysia (; Jawi script, Jawi: ) is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives, Literal translation, lit. "People's As ...
from 1990 to 1995.


Life and career

Harrison Ngau was born in 1959 at his home village in Long Keseh, which is located near the
Baram River The Baram River () is a river in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. The river originates in the Kelabit Highlands, a watershed demarcated by the Iran Mountains of East Kalimantan, which form a natural border with Sarawak. Geography The Baram ri ...
in the northern region of
Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...
. In 1976, a logging company named WTK (short form for the company's founder, Wong Tuong Kwang) went to his village. Harrison was a 17-year-old boy who just had just completed second last year of his secondary school at
Marudi Marudi is a town in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, and is a part of the division of Miri. It is the seat of Marudi District, and is located on the banks of Baram River, about upstream from the river mouth. Marudi was the administrative cent ...
. He went back to his village for a Christmas holiday when a large meeting convened in his longhouse. The villagers only realised that WTK company had just been granted a concession behind their longhouse when the company turned up with bulldozers, heavy machinery, and chainsaws in front of them. The villagers initially mooted the idea of stopping the loggers, however when company workers sent them some free biscuits and Coke, the villagers accepted the food and the resistance died down. It was later turned out that two villagers in the longhouse own shares in another logging company who owned the concession. They sold to concession to WTK and made a handsome profit. Since Harrison was the only one who know how write, he offered himself to write letters to the company. WTK later agreed to pay a compensation of RM 2 (US$0.60) for every tonne of timber taken from their area. Harrison then went on to work in a hotel in
Miri Miri () is a coastal city in north-eastern Sarawak, Malaysia, located near the border of Brunei, on the island of Borneo. The city covers an area of , located northeast of Kuching and southwest of Kota Kinabalu. Miri is the second largest ...
, an ice factory, and with Shell oil company. In 1980, he started Sarawak branch of Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), an environmental and human rights organisation in Malaysia. He went to Marudi rented an office for his organisation. In November 1980, he was married to 17-year-old Uding, another Kayan from a nearby village. They raised four children and continue to campaigned against logging companies in Baram region. The first protest was at the Apoh river against the Samling logging company. The Kayans from three longhouses went to threatened the company's employees. The company then agreed to pay compensation to the three longhouses. Harrison's organisation was primarily involved in advising the indigenous people in exercising their land rights. In the mid 1980s, the
Penan people The Penan are a nomadic indigenous people living in Sarawak and Brunei, although there is only one small community in Brunei; among those in Brunei half have been converted to Islam, even if only superficially. Penan are one of the last such p ...
started turn up to his office when they themselves were also affected by logging. The biggest protest came in March 1987 when 4,700 indigenous people from 26 Penan villages and six longhouses turned up simultaneously to prevent loggers from reaching upper Baram and
Limbang Limbang is a border town and the capital of Limbang District in the Limbang Division of northern Sarawak, East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. This district area is 3,978.10 square kilometres, and population (year 2020 census) was 56,900. ...
region. Around 200 bulldozers and 1,600 timber workers were held up for several months. After a few months, the blockade was forcefully dismantled by the police. On 27 October 1987,
Operation Lalang Operation Lalang (, also called Ops Lalang and taken to mean "Operation Weeding") was a major crackdown undertaken by the Royal Malaysian Police from 27 October to 20 November 1987, ostensibly to prevent the occurrence of race riots in Malay ...
was started by the then Malaysian prime minister,
Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...
. Harrison was arrested under Internal Security Act. Harrison was flown to Miri and spent a night at a cell there before he was transported to
Kuching Kuching ( , ), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak Ri ...
through an off-road vehicle. He was held for 60 days and nights but no charge was brought against him. Harrison was released in December 1987. Harrison's arrest brought attention to environmental campaigners and human rights activists worldwide. They wrote letters to protest the Malaysian government actions. One year later, SAM received the
Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob vo ...
for Harrison's work in Sarawak. Harrison received
Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists. History Awardees are named from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, an ...
in 1990. He later used the prize money to fund his campaign against
Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...
(BN) during
1990 Malaysian general election General elections were held in Malaysia on 20 and 21 October 1990. Voting took place in all 180 parliamentary constituencies of Malaysia, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament. State elect ...
. He defeated the deputy minister of Public Works, Luhat Wan and became the member of parliament for Baram constituency. However, in the
1995 Malaysian general election General elections were held in Malaysia on 24 and 25 April 1995. Voting took place in all 192 parliamentary constituencies of Malaysia, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament. State elections ...
, he was defeated by another BN candidate Jacob Dungau Sagan.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngau Laing, Harrison Living people People from Sarawak Malaysian environmentalists Independent politicians in Malaysia 1959 births Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Malaysian MPs 1990–1995