Datuk Dr Jerip Susil
KUCHING: Any land development in villages must be done in a systematic manner and not on an ad-hoc basis, said Assistant Public Health Minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil.
As such, he advised village folks to organise themselves either by forming a committee or a cooperative before entering into any land development plans with either government agencies or the private sector.
“Villagers can get very anxious to develop their land, especially with improvement in infrastructure and communication. But this must be done through proper channels and proper mechanism, it cannot be on an ad-hoc manner,” Dr Jerip said.
“Lands must be documented and gazetted as NCR land with the Land and Survey Department. With that, they can approach any relevant government agency to develop it. The village people must organise themselves either by forming a committee or a cooperative.
“Otherwise, it will be haphazard and all the agencies and investors who come in will be unsure of what to do in that village,” said Dr Jerip to reporters after officiating the handover of a house built under National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) 7 programme in Kampung Masaan, Siburan, near here yesterday.
He mentioned this when asked to comment on alleged illegal logging along the yet-to-be-completed Semadang-Danu road and a controversial proposed oil palm plantation in Kampung Danu which allegedly included NCR land of people in the neighbouring Semadang.
Villagers of Kampung Semadang held a peaceful demonstration at the entrance of Semadang-Danu road on Sept 21 to protest the logging and oil palm plantation. Both Semadang and Danu are under Bengoh state seat, represented by Dr Jerip.
The dispute over land included in the oil palm plantation proposal was amicably settled recently after Kampung Danu’s village development and security committee (JKKK) admitted they had wrongly included Kampung Semadang’s NCR land area into the plan, and they agreed to return the 720 hectares of NCR land to Semadang.
Dr Jerip also advised the village folks to lodge a report with the authorities if they come across illegal logging. “The kampung (village) people must make a report on whose land they (the loggers) went through. If they had gone into the land which belongs to someone, then the logging company must be stopped,” he said.
“It must be clarified first whether the company go in for logging or something else. No one’s land must be encroached and trespassed upon.”
Dr Jerip also expressed his concern over rumours linking him to the logging along the Semadang-Danu road.
“As far as illegal logging is concerned, you don’t expect the YB to be involved. I am not sure what is happening there, but we do not condone things like that,” he said.