KOTA KINABALU: Former Suhakam vice chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun yesterday urged for the amendment of Section 13 of the Sabah Land Ordinance (SLO).
Section 13 of the SLO states that upon the receipt of any application for unalienated country land, the collector must publish a notice calling upon any claimant to native customary rights in such land who is not yet in possession of a registered documentary title to make or send in a statement of his claim within a date to be specified in the notice. If no claim is made the land shall be dealt with as if no such rights existed.
“It must be inserted in the law that states clearly where the Land and Surveys Department places such notice … if they keep it hidden, who would know it?” he said during the Suhakam public inquiry held at Sedcovest near here.
Galus Ahtoi of Pacos Trust also raised the same issue, saying that the notice is now available in both Malay and in English.
However, he noted that among the problems faced by the native folks residing within rural Sabah are, they are unable to go to the Land and Survey Department offices at district level to check on such notices every few week in a month.
He said that the notices were placed at such offices within 30 days.