Land Code (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 comes into effect today

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KUCHING: The Land Code (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 will come into effect today (Aug 1) following the gazetting of the ordinance.

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, exercising his powers conferred by Section 1 (2) of the Land Code (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 and holding the portfolio of Minister for Urban Development and Natural Resources, has selected August 1, 2019 as the date the Ordinance come into force, according to the Sarawak Government Gazette.

The amendment bill was passed as law by the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN) on July 12, 2018 after 35 members of the august house debated on it.

The main objective of the bill is to give native territorial domain (NTD) the force of law and to issue native communal title in perpetuity which will confer on such titles proprietary rights to the NTD, thereby resolving the problems arising from the federal court decision in Tuai Rumah Nyutan’s case relating to provisional leases and to repeal provisions in the Land Code Amendment Ordinance 2007 which have not come into force resulting in, for example, the reinstatement of Section 5 (2) (f).

The amendment marked the Sarawak government’s commitment to ensure that the proprietary interests over NTD are protected and native communal titles rightfully issued to the respective native communities in accordance with the land code, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, who is also Minister of Modernisation, Native Land and Regional Development when chairing a press conference at the DUN after the law was passed then.