Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan during a special interview with Bernama in Kuching October 22, 2021. — Bernama pic
SERIAN, Nov 19 — The cooperation of Native Customary Rights (NCR) landowners in Sarawak is needed to ensure the initiative by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state government to measure these lands for the issuance of title deeds can be continued.
Sarawak deputy chief minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said these landowners are also reminded not to be easily deceived by the opposition’s tactics to deny them the rights to their lands by saying that the government would seize their lands.
“GPS was established to fight for and defend the rights as well as interests of Sarawak,” he said in his speech at the presentation ceremony for the Native Customary Rights (NCR) Land Title presentation ceremony to Serian division landowners, here, today.
According to him, this native rights land measurement initiative uses a new method that speeds up the measurement process and was proven when more than one million hectares (ha) of land were successfully measured between 2010 and now, while more than 78,000 ha have been gazetted.
He went on to praise the Bidayuh community, with the help of the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA), for being a community that readily offers its cooperation to the Sarawak Land and Survey Department (JTS) to enable a quicker land measurement process for their lands and to receive their title deeds.
Awang Tengah said beginning next year, Sarawak JTS will focus on measuring more individual lands due to the increasing number of applications received by the department.
“If we continue to get the people’s mandate, then we will continue our efforts to measure the NCR lands and the give out title deeds under Section 18 of the State Land Code,” he said.
He said GPS hoped to continue the struggle and defend the rights of Sarawak and to continue development so that the state can achieve developed status by 2030.
“We have spoken out on the Sarawak’s eroding rights. The state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg has successfully demanded sales tax on petroleum products from Petronas amounting to more than RM7 billion within two years,” he added.
According to him, the increase in tax revenue has subsequently been channelled back to the people through various types of assistance and also used for the implementation of Sarawak’s development programmes.
At the ceremony, Awang Tengah presented a total of 109 title deeds to 84 landowners under Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code and also the native communal reserve gazette to three villages in Serian. — Bernama