Police in Simunjan, a quiet district town two hours' drive from Kuching, showed exemplary caution when facing a crowd of 300 Iban villagers gathered in support of Numpang Suntai this Wednesday.

Only 20 of the supporters were allowed into the courtroom in Simunjan, where Numpang was facing a charge of ‘criminal intimidation' against Loyal Billion, a logging company contracted to extract timber for a wealthy conglomerate, Quality Concrete.

The remainder of the crowd remained outside, braving the heavy rain.