Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg
KUCHING: The bill to amend the Sarawak Land Code (SLC) has been discussed at the State Cabinet.
This was revealed by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said the amendment, to allow the term ‘pemakai menoa’ (native territorial domain) and ‘pulau galau’ (communal forest reserve) to be recognised and given the force of law, will be tabled at the sitting of State Legislative Assembly (DUN) next month.
“The rest of it, you can ask the Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah,” he told reporters after the Gawai Raya open house organised by the Chief Minister’s Department at the old DUN Complex yesterday.
Earlier, Abang Johari chaired the state cabinet meeting at Wisma Bapa Malaysia. Uggah, when approached later, confirmed that the amendment to the SLC was one of the agendas in the state cabinet meeting yesterday morning.
He said before it was discussed, the cabinet was given briefing by the Sarawak Attorney General (SAG) on the proposed bill.
Asked to comment on claims that the native territorial domain is given the legal status of usufructuary right, which means right to use but not to own, he said he could not give the detail of the bill until he tables it in the DUN sitting.
“For now it is still confidential. But it was discussed and accepted by the cabinet this morning (yesterday),” he said.
The Malaysian Insight recently reported that anger has erupted on social media following a ‘leaked’ draft of the long-awaited bill to amend Sarawak’s Land Code.
The draft appears to show that the state’s indigenous Dayaks are given only “usufructuary right” to their lost claims on their ‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’.
In law, ‘usufructuary right’ means only the right to use something, without having legal ownership.