Book on state’s land laws launched

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COMPLIMENTARY: Ravinthran (left) receiving a copy of the book as token from Nasser during the launching yesterday. — Photo by Jacqueline R David

KUCHING: The resolution of all conflicts over native customary rights (NCR) over land in the state requires a concerted, urgent and equitable solution for all concerned.

This was the view of the author and publisher of the book entitled “Land Law in Sarawak” Nasser Hamid in his speech at the launching of the law book here yesterday.

“Any comments I make in relation to native customary rights are made as a lawyer but most importantly as a concerned citizen and a fellow Malaysian.

“The question of NCR is a contentious area which has been around for a long time and I suspect will be very visible in the future in view of the close ties between the land and its people,” he said.

As such, he suggested that the grievances of the natives in Sarawak have to be seen as a cry for help and an indication that there were problems that must be addressed jointly and not from the platform of partisan politics.

He disclosed that the recent case of one Masa Nangkai illustrated the predicaments faced by natives even in light of government initiatives like the ‘New Concept of Development on Native Customary Rights Land’ under the auspices of the Ministry of Land Development.

“Even this morning, there was a report in the newspaper on Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) reporting on the problems faced by natives both in Sabah and Sarawak.

“There it was reported that strategies and moves to fast track native rights and ownership of land are important component of human rights,” he said quoting a news report in a national daily.

He pointed out that NCR were based on historical rights of the natives recognised from the time of the White Rajahs in Sarawak.

He said that the absence of evidence of written native customary rights over land did not mean the absence of those rights.

Nasser, a former legal practitioner and currently the Publisher and Author of Legal Publication under Gavel Publications, earlier said that ‘Land Law in Sarawak’ by Professor Salleh Buang and him was the first and most complete publication on the subject to be published.

“It is complete in the sense that it is a repository of all cases and materials pertaining to land law in the state.  As for cases it includes, both reported and unreported decisions,” he added.

He said that the book consists of nine chapters, namely introduction (chapter one), registration (chapter two), alienation of state land (chapter three), dealings in land (chapter four), native customary rights (chapter five), caveats (chapter six), resumption (chapter seven) settlement (chapter eight) and actions for recovery of land and rights over land in chapter nine.

Written in a simple language with many references to reported and unreported Sarawak Court judgments, the book should be helpful for both legal practitioners as well as civil servants exercising quasi-judicial power to better understand the Land Law of Sarawak and difference from that of Peninsular Malaysia.

It can also help students interested in knowing the basic frame work of Land Law in Sarawak without poring over endless judicial decisions that such research would otherwise entail.

The book which costs RM400 per copy was officially launched by Judicial Commissioner Ravinthran Paramaguru who represented Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Richard Malanjum.