KUCHING: Villages that have yet to apply for Native Customary Rights (NCR) land surveys should take greater initiative in securing their land rights instead of remaining inactive despite available assistance.
Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development, Datuk Seri Roland Sagah Wee Inn said some villages, including those with highly educated residents, had still not applied for NCR land surveys despite assistance being available.
“Let every kampung try to get their community leaders to wake up. There are some kampungs who don’t wake up.
“They have a lot of qualified people there, not just from Primary One, but up to PhD level even. But the kampung never applies to be surveyed,” he said at the 11th Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) Triennial General Assembly (TGA) welcoming dinner here on Friday night (May 8).
Sagah said some elected representatives had even provided financial assistance to help villages carry out the survey process.
“So don’t listen to all the political talks saying that the government don’t want to survey Dayak land.
“We are Bidayuh. We are Dayak, are we not?” he said.
He added that almost 95 per cent of NCR land applications submitted were progressing smoothly, with some areas already issued land titles.
Sagah also stressed that villages which had yet to carry out NCR land surveys should hold their own community leaders accountable for failing to act on the matter.
He said the term should properly be called “Native Customary Rights Land (NCRL)” because the “rights” component was important.
Meanwhile, DBNA president Datuk Ik Pahon Joyik said the number of registered Bidayuh villages had increased to 406 from 338 when the initiative first began.
“Out of this, we have managed to apply for 235 villages to be surveyed under Perimeter Survey Section 6. Out of that 235, 86 have been gazetted,” he said.
Ik Pahon said applications involving 203 villages for housing lots under Section 18 had been submitted, with 200 approved.
He added that land surveys for traditional village lots under Section 18 were still being carried out by the Land and Survey Department.
“For agricultural lots under Section 18, we submitted 126, approved 123,” he said.
Ik Pahon said DBNA had formed a special task force involving community leaders and the Land and Survey Department to continue documenting NCR land.
He said the long-term goal remained the issuance of land titles under Section 18 and called on branches and community leaders to continue working together on the matter.
