Don’t sell ancestral land for quick cash – Ewon

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Ewon (third from left) launching the Sabah Native Land Service program at Kampung Tumura in Sapulut.

NABAWAN: Rural Development Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick is reminding rural folks not to sell their ancestral land for quick cash.

They should instead work on their ancestral land with agricultural activities that can bring sustainable benefit, he said after launching the Sabah Native Land Service (Pantas) Sapulut program at Kampung Tumura in Sapulut yesterday.

Ewon lamented that the act of some people selling their ancestral land for quick cash will not benefit their future generation and it also results in them losing a valuable heritage.

The Program Khas Anak Negeri Sabah (Pantas) which is being organised for the first time in Sapult involved 11 villages, namely Kampung Tumura, Kg Panabaan, Kg Lotong, Kg Kambubunut, Kg Balaron, Kg Manduluh, Kg Padang, Kg Kuala Panawan, Kg Pulungan, Balaron Borook and Kg Kahulangu.

Ewon also recorded his appreciation to the state Land and Survey Department for its continued commitment to the Pantas program and expanding it throughout the state.

This is what the rakyat, especially those in the rural areas have been waiting for and that is to be able to finally receive their land titles, he said adding all that was made possible by the commitment of the Land and Survey Department and the cooperation of all villagers involved.

Meanwhile state Land and Survey Department director Datuk Safar Untong disclosed that the federal government had channeled a special allocation for the survey of NCR land in the state since 2012.

According to him in 2018, the allocation for the program was RM15 million and this year, it will allocate RM20 million for the Pantas program.

Safar disclosed that since 2012, a total of 124 villages in 21 districts throughout Sabah have been surveyed and that a total of 5,610 draft land titles have been issued as the department is in the midst of printing more.