STRONG COOPERATION: Awang Zamhari (standing first row, front fifth right), Penghulu Reduan (on Awang Zamhari’s left) and other staff of the Land and Survey Department and villagers taking a break from the survey to pose for the camera.
LAWAS: There is an increasing awareness among the natives in Limbang Division of the need to have their native customary rights (NCR) land surveyed under the new NCR Initiative.
According to Lands and Survey Department Limbang superintendent Awang Zamhari Awang Mahmood, this is because this year alone 16 villages had applied while last year three areas were surveyed.
He said twelve of the applications had been approved while four others were still pending. Among the twelve areas that had been approved this year are six kampungs in Lawas which are predominantly Malay and Kedayan – Kpg Pangi, Kpg Punang, Kpg Punang Jaya, Kpg Sualai, Kpg Bukit Naga and Kpg Siang-Siang Laut.
“From the applications received so far this year, we can safely say that the response is overwhelming.
“The perimeter survey works of 36.2 kilometres for the 760 hectares of NCR land in these six villages began on July 5. If all goes well, the 91-day works (inclusive of Saturdays and Sundays) are expected to be completed by mid September this year,” he told The Borneo Post reporter who accompanied him and officials to oversee the progress of the perimeter survey at Lumut some 15 minutes boat ride from Kampong Punang, Lawas on Tuesday. Awang Zamhari reminded the villagers to give their full cooperation to the department so that the perimeter survey could be carried out smoothly and completed according to schedule.
“We greatly need the people’s cooperation even before they apply for their land to be surveyed,” he empathised, adding that with clear-cut boundaries it would be a lot easier for the surveyors to carry out their task. He assured landowners that after the completion of survey work, the tracts of land would be gazetted as Native Communal Reserve under Section 6 of the Sarawak Land Code with the gazette kept at the Land and Survey Department and the District Office, and a copy extended to the respective community heads.
“The gazette itself is a legal proof for their lands that had been surveyed and the land rightfully belongs to the community here. As such, full cooperation from the people is required,” he stressed, while reiterating that grouses and complaints pertaining to NCR New Initiative, if any, must be channelled to him.