SERIAN: Sarawak natives have plenty of land but unless and until they have the relevant documents in their hands they still cannot confidently say the land is theirs.
Manyin (second right) and others launch the perimeter survey programme at Kpg Pichin.
Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications Dato Sri Michael Manyin said it was therefore important that all native customary rights (NCR) land be surveyed and issued with titles.
“Because of this the government has introduced NCR new initiative to protect the landowners and make sure they will not lose rights over their land in future.
“The federal government initially allocated RM60 million and this year an additional RM30 million has been allocated for the survey,” he said.
He added that the process would certainly require longer time and substantial amount of funds to survey NCR land of about 1.5 million hectares in the state.
“The process cannot be done overnight but the government, through the Land and Survey Department will make sure that all NCR lands are surveyed and issued with titles,” he said at the launch of perimeter survey programme for NCR land at various areas in Serian District at Kampung Pichin near here yesterday.
He said the whole process would take a little bit of time and the landowners had nothing to worry about, “because on completion of the perimeter survey the land which has been confirmed to have been occupied by them on or before Jan 1, 1958 will be gazetted as native communal land”.
“A common title will then be issued as proof that the land is owned by the community before individual lots are surveyed and issued with titles.”
He said this was an ongoing process undertaken by the government since 2010 but unfortunately some people were skeptic about it in the beginning.
He said after being instigated by narrow-minded and irresponsible people there were cases where some villagers even objected to the survey which had caused further delay to the programme.
Earlier, Samarahan Land and Survey superintendent Rozlan Putit disclosed that since the introduction of the initiative in 2010, 15 areas involving approximately 6,000ha had been surveyed and gazetted.
“In May this year Land and Survey Department Samarahan has received approval to conduct perimeter survey on 65,000ha of NCR land in Serian District. The area covers about 90 predominant Bidayuh villages.”
He urged the villagers and landowners to give their full cooperation to the surveyors to avoid unnecessary delay to the programme.