KUCHING: A longhouse or village can only have one village security and development committee (JKKK) and one bank account for minor rural project grants.
An officer from the Human Resource and Management (HRM) Unit in the State Secretary’s Office told The Borneo Post yesterday that this was the procedure for any JKKK to be set up in the state.
“The chairman must be the village head and in some cases it can be the Penghulu (community leader) on condition that the latter must also reside at the same longhouse or village,” said the officer who requested anonymity.
“This set-up allows efficient administration of government projects and funds for the village JKKK,” he added.
When asked to comment on the issue faced by the JKKK at Nanga Ngungun Resettlement Scheme, Ngemah River, Kanowit District recently, deputy state secretary Datu Ose Murang explained that the village chief upon his retirement as chairman of the JKKK should have transferred the JKKK’s bank passbook to the new committee which must be minuted and recorded by the new committee.
He pointed out further that the committee should have then informed the District Office of the minutes to ensure that proper procedures were adhered to.
The issue was raised recently by councillor Ambrose Pengiran Sampai to The Borneo Post because he wanted to know if it was permissible for a longhouse to have more than one JKKK.
He related that his longhouse had more than one JKKK, with each JKKK having its own bank passbook.