Extracted from Malaysiakini

PKR rep wants answers on NCR land

Tony Thien | Oct 16, 08 11:59am

PKR’ sole assemblyperson Dominique Ng will ask the Sarawak government in the coming session of the state assembly why it has failed to acknowledge recent rulings by Malaysian courts on native customary rights (NCR) in two important cases in the state.

The Federal Court in 2007 ruled in the case of Superintendent of Land and Survey vs Madelli Salleh, that the principles of common law must respect the pre-existence of customary law and that native rights owe their existence to native customary laws, not to any statute or legislation

In the case of Borneo Pulp Plantation and Others vs Nor Nyawai and Others, the Court of Appeal in 2004 ruled that native rights exist both as familial rights on cultivated farms and as communal rights on higher forests.

Ng said recent judicial decisions have been made on the nature, stature and extent of native customary rights by the Malaysian courts, including the Federal Court. Hence, the position and the rights of natives in Malaysia in relation to their customary rights to lands are now entrenched in the law.

This is one of 10 questions the PKR elected representative has submitted for oral and/or written reply during the budget session of the state assembly which is due to start on Nov 3.

"Does the Sarawak government not realise and recognise that judicial decisions are binding and precedent-setting and would the state government honour the law as set by the recent case laws?’ he asked

Hydroelectric dams come under fire

On disputes over NCR and police authority, Ng also questioned how many natives in each of the administrative divisions have been arrested and charged by the police for protesting against alleged trespassing or encroachment of their native customary land by logging, oil palm plantation and tree plantation companies in the last 10 years. He also demanded to know what offences they were arrested for and how many were actually charged and convicted.

The PKR assemblyperson also raised a question on the plan to build 12 hydroelectric dams in Sarawak.

"Considering that the 12 proposed new dams, like the Bakun dam, will be similarly extravagant and unnecessary in the scale of electricity generation, cause wanton environmental and biodiversity destruction, bring about violent dispossession and displacement of ethnic groups, and unpredictable in future environmental calamity and payback, will the government not abandon the construction of the 12 proposed dams?

Ng also questioned whether the RM400 million state-funded Sarawak International Medical Centre would be converted into a public hospital to complement the Sarawak General Hospital to alleviate bed shortage in hospitals in Kuching and to serve the Kota Samarahan district and neighbouring areas.

Another question is on whether the Sarawak government would consider implementing a new land policy to include permanent land tenure for all residential properties.