Gerawat (second left) presents a Section 18 land title to one of the recipients.

BARIO (Oct 8): Residents here received individual titles in perpetuity for their native customary rights (NCR) land under Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code for the first time on Wednesday.

Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department Dato Gerawat Gala described the handover of 102 titles to 77 recipients at Bario Sentral Community Hall as a ‘historic moment’.

The titles, issued free of charge and held in perpetuity, cover land in the Sungai Ukat Block, which was surveyed and gazetted under Section 6 of the Land Code on Oct 16, 2012.

Gerawat said the issuance of the titles showed that claims by those opposed to NCR perimeter surveys were unfounded.

The Mulu assemblyman said some groups had opposed Section 6 surveys, alleging that NCR land surveyed under the provision would become state land and be lost to its owners.

He cited the case of Zaharah Mustapha Raja Sewa v Sagau Batu Bala, noting that the disputed land in the case lies within the Sungai Ukat Block.

“Section 18 titles can only be issued over NCR land and not state land, and if NCR land in the block had lost its NCR status, as alleged by the opposition, all 102 titles could not have been issued,” he said.

Gerawat said the issuance of individual titles for NCR land in the block was only the beginning.

He urged the public not to be misled by allegations against the surveys, stressing that the government’s aim was to give NCR owners titles to their land.

At the same ceremony, the Batu Patong community in Kelapang received the gazette for a 401-hectare Bumiputera communal reserve under Section 6.

Gerawat said 1,648 hectares in the Sungai Kelapang area had been identified and approved for survey, covering Pa Mada, Pa Bengar, Pa Dalih, Batu Patong and Ramudu.

He urged leaders of the other villages to apply to the Land and Survey Department for surveys.

To expedite individual lot surveys, he said longhouse and village heads in the Sungai Ukat Block should establish land committees to identify landowners and agree on lot boundaries.

He said disputes could be resolved through community leaders instead of the courts, adding that lots still under dispute could not be surveyed or issued titles.

Gerawat also encouraged longhouses and villages to discuss Native Territorial Domain areas they wished to apply for under Section 6A, which must adjoin the block’s boundary.

He said the Land and Survey Department had completed perimeter surveys covering about 1.25 million hectares from 2010 to Aug 31, 2026, with about 975,413 hectares gazetted.

During the same period, 112,232 individual lots covering 134,615 hectares were surveyed, while 39,973 lots covering 59,707 hectares had been issued Section 18 titles.

Gerawat said surveys were conducted only upon application and with the owners’ consent, stressing that there was no coercion.

He urged title recipients to retain and develop their land rather than sell it for short-term gains, and encouraged them to participate in agricultural modernisation programmes under the State Ministry of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development.

He also called on the federal and state governments to continue and expedite annual allocations for NCR surveys.