This victory surely put pressure to BN Dayak leaders of what they’ve done in protecting own Dayak folks…
Even James Masing the Land Development Minister was made a fool when his own proposal native land commission was shot down…such a shameful tragedy to the Dayak folks…
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No need to establish native land commission, enough provisions in Sarawak Land Code, says Adenan
Borneo Post, Wednesday, 29 June 2011
KUCHING: There is no need for a native land commission to be established in the state, Minister with Special Functions in the Chief Minister’s Office Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem said yesterday.
He said this when delivering his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) in response to the proposal by Baru Bian (PKR-Ba Kelalan) for the commission to be set up to solve native customary rights (NCR) land issues as apparently the government and the courts have different opinions on NCR.
Baru, a lawyer by profession dubbed by many as a land expert, in his debate had said it was now more crucial to establish an independent land commission as seemingly the stand of the government was that only areas farmed before Jan 1, 1958 or ‘Temuda’ were considered as NCR whereas the court had ruled that NCR also included the ‘Pemakai Menua’ and ‘Pulau’ which often led to land disputes.
He believed that with the commission issues like encroachment and trespassing by companies issued with timber or plantation licences could be avoided.
However, in response to that, Adenan said such commission was not necessary because the government had long recognised and respected native’s rights to their customary land provided they were created in accordance with the law.
“The Sarawak Land Code has adequate provisions to better achieve the same objectives of investigating, recognising rights and issuing titles to NCR land,” he said, adding that Section 2 of the Sarawak Land Code offered clear definition of NCR, Section 5 (2) outlined the methods by which NCR may be created while Part V of the same law detailed out the process by which land titles may be issued to the natives under Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code.
“The above law is administered by the Land and Survey Department which has established procedures to deal with all aspects of the NCR issues. In implementing these procedures the department 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 noted.
On the settlement of land disputes, be they among the natives, between natives and plantation owners, or between natives and the government, he stressed that the elected representatives of the respective areas were duty bound to give correct explanation to their electorates on government policies as well as to assist them in settling disputes amicably at the local levels without resorting to the courts.
He also advised NCR land owners, should they have issues with regards to their NCR such as encroachment by other parties, to report the matter to the appropriate agency, which is the Land and Survey Department.
“Reporting to other parties such as the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will only result in your plight being politicised rather than resolved,” he noted. Therefore, he said, the government was not of the opinion that a native land commission would be able to resolve issues pertaining to NCR.
“In short, there are no benefits to be gained by all parties especially by the claimants with the setting up of the commission,” said Adenan.
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No need for new ministry
Taib rejects idea of a ministry to resettle people affected by dam construction
by Simon Ingka Crown, Borneo Post, 8 July 2011
KOTA SAMARAHAN: Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud yesterday said there is no need to set up a ministry or an agency to take charge of resettlement of people affected by major hydroelectric dam projects in the state.
He added as construction of dams were periodic there would not be enough jobs for the ministry to handle after their construction.
“It is not necessary to form it (the ministry). There will be no jobs for them to handle,” he told reporters.
He said this after attending a joint convocation ceremony of Tun Abdul Razak (TAR) Teachers Institute Samarahan campus and Teachers Institute Miri campus held at the hall of the teachers institute here yesterday.
Taib was responding to a call by Minister of Land Development Tan Sri Dr James Masing to set up a ministry to look after the resettlement of communities displaced by the construction of dams in the state.
Masing had proposed that a ministry be set up as a permanent agency to replace the current ad-hoc committees looking after the welfare of communities affected by the construction of dams.
Masing was reported to have brought up his proposal to the chief minister on several occasions.
So far four areas, Batang Ai, Bakun, Bengoh and Murum, have been affected by construction of dams.
Except for Bengoh which is being built as a reservoir, the others are hydro-power dams.
Earlier in his speech, Taib said the state government was speeding ICT penetration in the state to improve teaching facilities through WiFi and narrow the rural and urban digital gap. Education through WiFi was adopted from Cambridge University and widely used in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
“The state government will ensure that, if not all, two thirds of Sarawak will be fully covered by the WiFi network,” he said.
Taib disclosed that a pioneer WiFi teaching programme had been implemented in Mukah.
“If the system works well, the state government will extend its usage to the other divisions.”
He added that the state government could not wait for the profit-motivated private sector to run the programme.
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Masing: Common Law takes precedence over Land Code
By Joseph Tawie, The Broken Shield, 23 November 2010
KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak has expressed concern over the ‘quarrels’ between native land owners and the state government over claims of native customary rights land.
“The quarrels between native land owners are not a big problem; it can be settled. What concern us are the quarrels between the native land owners and
the state government.
“The quarrels over what constitutes NCR land and what is state land, “said PRS President James Masing.
Laterally, there are hundreds of claims and counter claims over the status of land between the land owners and the government.
So far more than 200 cases of land disputes are now pending hearing in the court.
Explaining PRS’ position after chairing its supreme council meeting on Saturday (20 Nov), Masing believed that the current exercise by the state government to survey NCR land and State land is a move in the right direction.
“Once we know which one is NCR land and which one is state land, and then the issue of conflict between the NCR land owners and the government will not arise anymore,” said Masing, who is also the Land Development Minister.
“We are concerned, because we are a party that represents the native communities and we want to ensure that the security of their land must be protected,” he said.
Masing said that one of the things they discussed in their meeting was a land report presented by its Land committee which had made a number of recommendations and observance.
“What I found out the most interesting in the report is that the Common Law takes precedence over the Land Code. This Common Law has the support of the Federal Constitution and the International Law.
“Common Law means the acquisition of land by traditional means. At the moment we may have slight problems that the Land Code does engender.
“How best we put them together so that we do not in conflict with the Common Law. And we have to tread on it carefully,” he said, adding that some of the amendments to the Land Code seemed to be in conflict with the Common Law.
“As a party representing the rural communities, this is our concern. We are not saying that the government is wrong. Let us synchronize the conflict.
“We must look into this seriously,” he added.
On the proposals recommended by the report, Masing said: “We have a long discussion on this report and how best we can develop NCR land. We have to look at it in terms of the concept and the proposal from the legal point of the land code that governs the NCR land.
“On the concept and the legal aspect, what I found the most interesting is that thereis a lot of inadequacy that the NCRland concept that we have.
“And they did the comparison of the NCR land concept with SALCRA. Even though SALCRA may not give that much as compared with FELCRA or FELDA, yet according to the report more people are agreeable to SALCRA than with the NCR land development that we have.
“As I told you before that my ministry is looking for ways and means as to how best we can improve NCR land development and giving more beneficiaries to the land owners,” he said.
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It has taken James Masing ten years to realise that NCR is upheld by the law?
YB Baru Bian, Monday, November 22, 2010
A headline on page seven of the Sunday Post yesterday drew my attention. James Masing claims that PRS’ supreme council members Patrick Sibat and Azizi Morni, who were tasked to carry out research on the issue of NCR, have discovered that the common law (i.e. the findings of Malaysian courts) overrides State law on NCR.
What Masing is essentially saying is that the natives of Sarawak can now claim not just temuda land but also pemakai menua and pulau galau as part of their NCL.
This is indeed a bold move by PRS to take a turnabout stand on NCR and hint at finally agreeing that the natives of Sarawak have legal and constitutional rights over their pemakai menua and pulau galau. This turnaround is even more spectacular in the context of Masing’s interview with Aljazeera on 19th March 2009: (VideoPart1www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX8in2voMl0) / (VideoPart2www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzm5BwNH8xM)
I wonder if the Chief Minister will be crossed by PRS’ latest flexing of muscle or is this just political posturing as election fever heats up?
What is surprising is that Masing and PRS have taken this long to arrive at this realisation. Perhaps Masing is not aware that the common law which he is alluding to was established nearly ten years ago by the landmark and historic Nor Nyawai case!
The State Government requested the Federal Court to review the Nor Nyawai decision which it argued had been wrongly decided. In 2007, the Federal Court dismissed the State Government’s appeal and affirmed the decision in Nor Nyawai. The State Government made a second attempt to reverse the decision in Nor Nyawai by applying to the Federal Court for a review of the earlier Federal Court’s decision but to no avail, thus settling and upholding once and for all the decision of Nor Nyawai.
PKR Sarawak has always championed and stood for the rights of the natives to NCL as established by the Nor Nyawai case since March 2001 and now we are happy that PRS and James Masing have finally, after ten long years, seen the light. Perhaps Masing can now also share his findings and the good news with his fellow native colleagues in SPDP and PBB?
Among those present were Tun Abdul Razak (TAR) Teachers Institute Samarahan campus director Rijeng Jahet and Teachers Institute Miri campus director Nuri Udin.