BAU: Native Customary Rights (NCR) landowners in Sarawak have been urged to develop and safeguard their land once they receive individual titles, instead of selling them for short-term gains.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said landowners who have obtained titles under Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code should fully utilise their land, warning that ownership rights are permanently lost once the land is sold.
“When you sell the land, your rights to it are revoked and cannot be reclaimed,” he said during the launch of the Bidayuh Cultural Centre here today (June 22).
Abang Johari expressed concern over a growing trend in which some landowners sell their titled land and later seek new land titles from the government.
“When there is no land, you ask for a land title from the government. When you are given one, you sell it. Then you ask the government for titles again. If you cannot get it, you say the government does not want to give it,” he said.
He stressed that landowners should take good care of their land and develop it productively once titles are issued.
“Do not blame others later. And do not let the land just look at us and we look at the land without doing anything,” he said.
He said the issuance of individual titles is an important step because it transforms NCR land into legally recognised private property.
Touching on the state’s efforts to regularise NCR land ownership, Abang Johari said the process is guided by provisions in the Sarawak Land Code, including Sections 6 and 18.
He noted that the policy did not begin under his administration but was strengthened and structured under the leadership of the late former Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, with contributions from the late former Chief Minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem, who previously served as Minister of Land Development.
“We already have a policy to provide a more structured title to NCR owners so there is no overlap and no disputes among heirs,” he said.
Abang Johari explained that land titles can only be issued after boundaries are clearly identified, measured and verified to prevent disputes between claimants.
He also commended the Dayak Bidayuh National Association for voluntarily assisting the Land and Survey Department in accelerating the surveying process, alongside village heads who have cooperated in land documentation exercises.
To address manpower shortages, he revealed that 600 surveyors have recently been added to the state Land and Survey Department, while more surveyors are being trained through local universities to obtain professional surveying certificates and support the state’s land titling programme.
