27/01/2012 (Tempo Interactive) - The Dayak Banuaq people in West Kutai, East Kalimantan, are urging the Indonesian public to act against a palm oil company for taking over its customary forest in Muara Tae.

“We call for help to protect our forest and ancestral land,” Dayak Banuaq leader, Singko, said yesterday. The local forest is now surrounded by plantations and coal mines.

“The local people are the true guardians of the forest and their fate relies on the forest,” said Telapak Forest campaigner, Abu Meridian.