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Minister says NCR land is state land, lawyer
disagrees
Jun
19,
A
“The state government will only recognize a right or claim
to government land if it was created in line with the relevant written laws of
the state government, including laws and the Royal Order brought into effect
before
The
minister's statement appears to be directed at largely the Dayak community who
make up almost half of the state's 2.3 million population. They reside mostly
in the rural areas and do traditional farming and collecting firewood and
timber for their own needs from temuda land and pemakai
menoa
(land never surveyed and without any title issued).
It is estimated that NCR land constitutes a total area of
about three million hectares or more.
Awang Tengah was replying to a written question from
Ba’Kelalan state assemblyperson Nelson Balang, who wanted to know the exact
relationship between NCR land and state land in view of the need for native
landowners to understand the legal implications.
He explained that if there was any land dispute involving
either state land or NCR land, the matter should be dealt with according to the
laws.
“The party making the claim must prove the validity of
their NCR claim over the land,” he added.
A
well-known Orang Ulu lawyer Baru Bian, when contacted for his comments,
described the minister’s statement as “misleading and incorrect as it does not
reflect the actual status of the law.”
Land
Code
“It is half-truth and half lie and I would say akin to the
devil trying to tempt Jesus,” said Baru, who handles a number of litigation
cases brought by NCR landowners against the government and many logging and
plantation companies in
He explained: “Section 15 of the Sarawak Land Code clearly
recognizes that native customary rights over land can exist in a land
categorised as state land.”
“Secondly, it also clearly states that state land shall
not be alienated to any person until all native customary rights therein have
been surrendered or extinguished or provisions made for compensation to be paid
to persons entitled to such rights.”
Baru said he hoped the minister had been misquoted or been
ill advised “because his response seems to suggest there is no NCR land under
the laws of
He explained that by virtue of it (land) being native
customary rights it therefore has no titles, and when the land is surveyed and
issued with titles, it would then become titled native land.
Many natives have been complaining about encroachment by
logging and plantation companies into NCR land which is either farming land or
kampong reserves, leading to destruction of crops and fruit trees as well as
polluting water catchment areas in some areas.
Small
native landowners
Earlier this week, the state assembly passed a bill to
determine the composition of the Native Court of Appeal and accelerate the
process of hearing some 800 cases involving land disputes between natives.
In
addition, about 130 litigation cases against the government and companies are
before the civil courts, and more such cases are expected as more land is
opened up for logging, plantation and other commercial development activities
in rural Sarawak.
Meanwhile, Peter Nansian Ngusie ( BN-Tasik Biru), who also
spoke, called on the state government to survey what he described as fragmented
and small pieces of land owned by natives along roads and close to urban
centres and issued them with titles for commercial agriculture.
He added that while the government was pursuing
large-scale plantation activities, small native landowners desiring to go into
commercial activities themselves should also be assisted so that they could
raise loans with land titles.