A view of Gunung Singai from a distant.
KUCHING: The Sarawak government announced yesterday that it has gazetted 369ha of Gunung Singai in Bau as a Bumiputera Communal Reserve (Heritage) for use by the Bidayuh community.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the state government has always recognised the rights of its people as represented by a native customary rights (NCR) land survey which was first put in place in the 1960s under a Settlement Operation.
he Traditional Village Survey Programme, meanwhile, was implemented in early 2000.
At the same time, the government pushed to speed up NCR land surveys with a perimeter assessment under the NCR Land Survey Programme which was funded by the previous government.
“To ensure the initiative is long-lived, this year the state government has approved RM40 million for NCR land surveying under Sections 6 and 18 of the State Land Code,” said Abang Johari while delivering his speech at a Pimu’ung Singai title deed handover ceremony and Singai Carnival 2019 opening yesterday.
Also present at the function was Sarawak Deputy Minister and Agriculture Modernisation, Native Land and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas. Kampung Sudoh headman, Robert Tom, said that the move to gazette Gunung Singai means a lot to the villagers as it is a symbolic Bidayuh settlement.
“Now that the mountain has been gazetted, the community can carry out their activities, protect the mountain and take steps towards promoting ecotourism,” he said.
“Gunung Singai is very popular with locals for mountain climbing. We hope more people will visit to boost the local economy,” he added.
During the ceremony, Abang Johari also entrusted a title deed for the Pimu’ung area (a Bumiputera Communal Reserve for farming use by the Bidayuh Singai community), land titles to The Catholic Memorial and Pilgrimage Centre, and NCR land titles to inhabitants of Kampung Daun, Kampung Tanjung Bowang and Kampung Senibong. — Bernama