Douglas Uggah Embas
KUCHING: The outcome of the Federal Court application for a judicial review in the Tuai Rumah Sandah and Siew Libau native customary rights (NCR) land case could have been avoided if it was resolved politically, says Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
The deputy chief minister told The Borneo Post today that the Federal Court decision on Wednesday was the reason why the Sarawak government had chosen a political solution for land disputes in the first place.
By political solution, Uggah, who is also Minister of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development, said the Sarawak government opted to amend the Sarawak Land Code.
Hence the Sarawak Land (Amended) Code 2018 was enacted to give the effect of force of law to customs like Pemakai Menoa and Pulau Galau (PMPG) and native territorial domain (NTD) proprietary right in perpetuity, he said.
The amended provisions in the land code took effect on Aug 1 this year.
Before the bill was tabled, Uggah said the state government was faced with two options – the legal action or political solution.
“If we had chosen legal recourse, then you can see the result on Wednesday (federal court decision).”
“What happened was, we (Dayak) lost everything. And that is why we chose political solution – to save our PMPG from the sad outcome of the court,” said Uggah.
Uggah, who is also Bukit Saban assemblyman, pointed out that should land disputes be left to the court,then they will be outside people’s control.
“That is why we have the Chief Minister(s) to thank for the amendment of the land code and giving the Pemakai Menoa and Pulau Galau the force of law. That is the spirit of the Sarawak Land (Amended) Code 2018,” he stressed.
He was referring to the former Chief Minister, the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem and his successor, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Uggah said two seminars will be held by the state in Kuching and Sibu consecutively on dates to be fixed later to explain the legal concept on how to apply for NTDs. They had held one this month in Miri, he added.
On Wednesday, the Federal Court in a 4-1 decision held that there was no basis for the apex court to review its earlier decision.
Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed and Federal Court judges Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin, Tan Sri Idrus Harun and Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh decided the majority decision while Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri David Wong Dak Wah dissented.
On May 27, 2011, the High Court sitting in Sibu held that Tuai Rumah Sandah and his community had NCRs over the entire 5,639 hectares of land that was leased by the state government of Sarawak to the company.
In the case of Siew Libau’s land, the area of interest covers 11,822 hectares.
There were initially about nine longhouses that brought a suit against the company but the High Court held that only Siew’s longhouse had successfully established native customary rights.
NCRs are based on inheritance by virtue of the Iban custom of PMPG.
The decision of the High Court in Sibu was later upheld by the Court of Appeal.
However on Dec 21, 2016, the Federal Court reversed the decisions of both the Court of Appeal and High Court, thus denying the principle of NCRs to Tuai Rumah Sandah, who is the head of a village of approximately 30 families, and Siew.