The battle was not fought with spears, bows and arrows, but with legal arguments before the Sarawak High Court in Borneo. Palm oil leases granted by the state government to IOI Corporation were declared null and void by the court because they violated the customary land rights of the villagers whose communal boundary encompassed the leased areas
{"Borneo"}. The decision in the class action suit took twelve years to be handed down. The court also awarded exemplary and aggravated damages to the Long Teran Kanan native community for the trespass on native land. IOI has attempted to present a public image of sustainable palm oil industry, but investigations by the BBC and
Friends of the Earth found the corporation responsible for denuding vast swaths of rainforest to install monoculture plantations, leaving a "a vast scar on the landscape". The growing market in the west for palm oil as a food additive and biofuel is leading to increasing deforestation [image courtesy treehugger.com]. Environmentalists and supporters of the indigenous are urging the Sarawak government not to appeal the ruling.
