‘No’ To Proposal For Native Land Commission

Joseph Tawie

Sarawak's Minister with Special Function, Adenan Satem, believes there are 'sufficient safeguards' within the Land Code to recognise and secure native customary rights over (NCR) land.

KUCHING: The Taib Mahmud-led Sarawak government has rejected outright the opposition’s proposal to set up a Native Land Commission to resolve native customary right (NCR) issues, which has seen the authorities and the courts at odds with each other.

Both the courts and the state government seem to have different interpretations of NCR, which has led authorities to disregard rulings by the courts favouring native rights on NCR lands.

While recent court rulings have favoured native rights over NCR land, the state government agencies, however, continued to issue licences for the extraction of timber or plantations in these areas much to the frustration of local villagers.

In his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly yesterday, Minister with Special Function, Adenan Satem, put an end to any possibility of a native land commission when he said the state government had “sufficient safeguards”.

He said the Sarawak Land Code had adequate provisions to investigate, recognise rights and issue titles to NCR land.

“There is no need to establish a native land commission as advocated by Ba’Kelalan member (Baru Bian).

“Section 2 of the Sarawak Land Code offers clear definition of NCR, Section 5 (2) outlines the methods by which NCR may be created while Part V of the same code details the process by which land titles may be issued to the natives,” he said.

Adenan added that the government has long recognised and respected natives’ rights to their customary land provided the rights are created in accordance with the law.

He said that the Land and Survey Department, which administers the law, has always adopted a fair and professional approach.

“For instance, in the often-quoted matter of NCR being wrongly alienated to others, the government through the Land and Survey Department had taken action to either return the land to the rightful owners or compensate them,” he added.

Judicial review

Adenan also said that in developing NCR land to improve the economic wellbeing of the natives, the government has entrusted the Land Development Ministry and other government agencies such as LCDA (Land Custody Development Authority) and Salcra (Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority) to implement numerous land development schemes on NCR land throughout the state.

He also advised NCR landowners that if their NCR land is encroached by other parties, for example, they should report the matter to the Land and Survey Department.

“Reporting to other parties such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will only result in your plight being politicised rather than resolved.

“The government does not think a native land commission will be able to resolve issues pertaining to NCR land.

“Besides requiring a large budget, the proposed land commission would duplicate the functions of the Land and Survey Department.

“As a lawyer, the Ba’Kelalan member should know that any ruling by the commission would be subject to judicial review by the court, thus its decision will not be final.

“In short, there are no benefits to be gained by all parties, especially by the claimants, with the setting up of the land commission,” he said.

Land commission ‘crucial’

Bian, who is a prominent NCR land lawyer, had urged the government to set up a native land commission to assist the state and natives to solve the ever-increasing problems connected to NCR land.

He said that such a commission was now “crucial” because the “court and the state government have different ideas” on NCR land.

“The government’s stand is that NCR covers only areas farmed before Jan 1, 1958 or that “temuda” were considered as NCR land whereas the court had ruled that NCR also included “Pemakai Menua” and “Pulau”.

Bian said the commission should be established comprising credible people from the public and the private sector to ensure independence and neutrality in the issuing of land titles.

“This will assist the government and the natives in resolving this NCR issue,” said Bian, who is Sarawak PKR chief.

The proposal to establish the commission was part of the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto in the recently concluded state election.

In the event Pakatan takes over the state government, the setting up of the commission would be given priority.

- Free Malaysia Today

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