Baru Bian

In 2020, he and 10 others Member of Parliament lead by Mohamed Azmin Ali decided to leave PKR and decided to support BERSATU Prime Minister candidate Mahathir Mohamad to remain as the Prime Minister. However Mahathir Mohamad refuse returning as the Prime Minister of Malaysia so BERSATU nominated Muhyiddin Yassin as the nominee for the Prime Minister position. After PH change their support from Anwar Ibrahim to Mahathir Mohamad as the Prime Minister, he (Baru Bian) and Jonathan Yasin who are the 11 MP's who's leaving PKR came back supporting Mahathir Mohamad as the Prime Minister rather than Muhyiddin Yassin.

In 2013 Malaysian general election, Baru Bian decided to contest in Limbang parliamentary seat. However, he was defeated by a huge margin against BN. During the 2018 Malaysian general election, NCR issues at Selangau prompt Baru to contest for the seat. He subsequently won the parliamentary seat against BN's Rita Sarimah with a majority of 486 votes. On 2 July 2018, Baru was sworn-in as the Minister of Works of Malaysia at National Palace.

However, when BN lost its two-thirds majority in the parliament and five states to the opposition during the 2008 Malaysian general election, Baru decided to join politics again to strengthen the two-party system. He joined Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in the same year. In 2009, Baru was appointed as the chairman of PKR Sarawak. He then proceed to win the Ba'kelalan state constituency during 2011 Sarawak state election, having defeated the candidate for the BN coalition, Willie Liau, who is also his nephew, by a narrow 473-vote majority. In 2015, Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem invited Baru Bian to join BN, however, Baru declined the offer. Baru retained the seat in the 2016 Sarawak state election with an increased majority of 538 votes, also against Willie.

Baru's father died of stomach cancer in 1993 at the age of 62 and was buried at Miri.

Baru met his current wife Ching Sieu during his studies at Melbourne, Australia when he joined Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF). Baru returned to Malaysia after graduation in 1986, Ching Sieu was still studying for another year for her double degree. She only returned to Malaysia in 1987. Baru and Ching Sieu was married on 17 December 1988. Baru and Ching Sieu raised three children, all three are now practicing Lawyers. Meanwhile, Ching Sieu is a full-time housewife.

Upon graduation, he became a trainee in a law firm named Rashid & Lee in Kuala Lumpur for six months before the law firm stopped paying allowances due to financial difficulties. He then continued his training at Eddy Chung & Co and was employed there until he returned to Kuching in 1988. Baru was subsequently admitted to the Malayan Bar as a lawyer and solicitor. By 1990, Baru became a partner in the firm of Messrs Anthony Ting, Baru Bian & Co. in Kuching, Sarawak. Baru taught himself about native customary rights law through Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), an NGO led by Harrison Ngau Laing, an environmentalist. Baru would later became a legal advisor for SAM. In the same year, he represented SAM to Yokohama, Japan to protest against the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) for not including the issues of native customary rights in their report. It was also at this time that Baru Bian met the Swiss activist, Bruno Manser. Bruno would later helped Baru to raise RM 30,000 from overseas supporters to fund Baru's 1991 election endeavour. However, Malaysian embassy officials would later took a photo of Baru Bian and Bruno Manser in Yokohama and used the photo to depict Baru as a traitor to Malaysian interests in 1991 election.

In 1987, Baru joined Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) because the party was advocating NCR rights in Sarawak. In 1989, Baru was elected as PBDS Youth Executive Council member. Baru was also a supreme council member of PBDS. He first contested against Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) governing coalition at Lawas in 1991 but lost. After that, PBDS started negotiating to rejoin Sarawak BN in 1992 and was subsequently admitted into BN in 1994. One of the condition for PBDS to rejoin BN was to stop raising the NCR issues within the state government. However, Baru Bian decided to continue his pursue towards NCR rights cases in court. In 2004, Baru decided to quit PBDS and went to contest against BN in Ba'kelalan by-election as an independent but lost again. Baru believed in continuing to uphold the NCR lands among the natives and the need to change the Sarawak state government in order to solve the NCR problems permanently. Baru later joined Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDS). However, MDS did not get registered before 2006 Sarawak state election. Therefore, Baru contested again for Ba'kelalan under Sarawak National Party (SNAP) ticket and lost for the third time. He filed an election petition to Miri High Court on BN's vote buying activities in Ba'kelalan. However, the petition was struck out on technicality grounds. He then decided to retire from politics because he already lost three times in elections.

He attended Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang for Form 6 at Tanjong Lobang, Miri, Sarawak. He got a satisfactory result in GCE Ordinary Level examination. After completing his secondary education, he served as a temporary teacher at SMK Medamit, Limbang from 1979 to 1981. He taught Geography, History, Physical Education and General Science there. His passion towards native land rights had led him pursued his tertiary education at Institut Teknology Mara (ITM) (now Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)), Shah Alam, Selangor in Diploma in Law (DIL). His uncle, Libat Langub, who was a former student at ITM, encouraged him to study law there. He went to Melbourne to further his studies on Law in 1985. He applied for scholarship from ITM but was denied. Therefore, he decided to take a study loan instead. He subsequently obtained Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the University of Melbourne, Australia in 1986. After his graduation in Australia, Baru decided to come back to Malaysia to serve the needy instead of applying for permanent residency in Australia.

Baru was baptised at Limbang River in 1973 by a New Zealand missionary named Murray Munroe. A few months before baptism, a testimony given by a former gangster from Singapore during an Inter-School Christian Fellowship (ISCF) meeting had strengthen Baru's belief in Christianity. Baru started to play guitar for Christian songs while he was a member of ISCF at SMK Limbang. He later become the president of ICSF during Form 4 and Form 5. He participated in Young Christian Students Movement (YCSM) year-end mission trips during his secondary school years. During his years at ITM, he attended Full Gospel Assembly Church service at Old Klang Road. He also attended a Christian Fellowship in ITM. When Baru studied at Melbourne, Australia, he attended Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF).

By the age of seven or eight, he followed his father into the jungle to learn hunting and fishing. As he became older, he would learn jungle survival skills, geography and boundary of the ancestral lands, and memorise twenty generations of ancestral names. He attended Primary 1 to 2 at Long Lellang (1966 to 1967), Primary 3 to 4 at Long Semado (1968-1969), and passed common entrance examination at Long Napir (1970 to 1971). After that, he attended Limbang secondary school until Form 5. At one point, he would need to wear modified school blouse left by her sister for the secondary school. He need to hike in the jungles for three days before reaching Lawas and another day journey to reach Limbang. His experiences during journeys through the jungles and mountain streams led him to understand the value of Native Customary Rights (NCR) for pemakai menoa (territorial domain) and pulau galau (communal forest reserve) and also the environmental protection. During the year-end school holidays in 1980, Baru Bian interviewed his father and his uncle Lasong Labo about the history of their family's NCR land. He drew the boundaries of their NCR land and signed by the village headman. The map later proved to be useful in fighting against six logging companies encroaching their lands in Berunut from 1986 to 1990s.

Baru Bian (born 9 September 1958) is a Malaysian politician. He is the member of parliament of Selangau winning in 2018 Malaysia General Election. He is formerly the Sarawak Chief of People's Justice Party (PKR) in the Pakatan Harapan governing coalition formerly serving as the Minister of Works of Malaysia.

Baru Bian was born in an impoverished Lun Bawang family on 9 September 1958, to Bian Labo (father) and Takong Taie (mother) in Long Lopeng, Sarawak. The ancestry of Baru Bian can be traced back to Berunut area, near the Adang river, where the latter is the tributary of the Limbang River. All the genuine Lun Bawang people should be able to trace their ancestry to one single common ancestor named Terur Aco. Baru Bian and his siblings are the twentieth generation since the first Lun Bawang. He is the third child and the eldest son in the family. He has six siblings. His elder sisters are Mina and Serina. Freddie is his younger brother, followed by a sister named Sigang, a brother Paulus, and another sister named Litad. Both Baru's parents were pastors. Baru's father, Bian Labo was trained at Lawas bible school which was under the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church. Baru's family moved from one village to another because his father was posted to different villages every year. Brought up in a Christian family since childhood, Baru was taught of discipline and doing the right things by his father.

Baru filed his first NCR case in 1991 on behalf of his extended family whose ancestral lands in Berunut was encroached by logging companies. However, the case was pending in court after two years. Therefore, Baru and his family members took part in timber blockades which successfully led Samling (a logging company) to compensate them RM 100,000. As part of the agreement, Baru withdrew the court case. He set up Messrs Baru Bian Advocates and Solicitors in Kuching in 1992. Baru would later found a legal partner named See Chee How. See is a human rights activist and a lawyer from Kuching. Together, they were involved in numerous native land rights cases. Baru also took up cases related to wrongful arrests or jailed without remand. In 2001, Baru Bian won the Rumah Nor Nyawai case in Sarawak High Court. This was the first time in the history of Malaysian courts that NCR rights was upheld. In 2007, the Federal Court of Malaysia upheld the decision on Rumah Nor Nyawai case that pemakai menua and pulau galau, in addition to temuda (cultivated land before 1 January 1958) are included in the definition of NCR land. In March 2011, Baru successfully led the legal defence team consisting of Civil Rights Lawyers See Chee How & Desmond Kho, resulting in the acquittal of Numpang Suntai who was accused of burning ten items of machinery in a logging camp at Sebangan, Simunjan District for encroaching the latter's ancestral land. By 2013, Baru Bian's law firm had processed more than 200 native land rights cases in court.