KUCHING: Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) is hopeful the government will verify 47 Bidayuh—owned land as NCR land in two to three years’ time.

DBNA president Datu Ik Pahon Joyik yesterday said DBNA had now completed and submitted 20 land documentation to the Department of Land and Survey to be considered for NCR title.

“They have given it to Kampung Sekuduk and we are confident that they will also give the NCR title to other villages,” he said when met by reporters during a graduation ceremony for Bidayuh Language Heritage School at DBNA hail.

Pahon also said Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud had indicated his support for DBNA’s land documentation initiative.

“He’s very positive about it and he said the community’s doing the right thing. Let’s hope after this the government will support in terms of verifying the documented land and giving titles to the 47 Bidayuh-owned land which have been documented,” he added.

Meanwhile, DBNA chief advisor and Infrastructure Development and Communication Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin stressed that DBNA was not carrying out NCR land survey as claimed by the opposition but only documenting land perimeters.

“Yes, DBNA does not have the power to survey NCR land, but please be reminded that we are not surveying, we are just documenting the lands so we can ask the government to survey them and provide titles to the owners,” he explained.

Pahon also explained that the initiative was to expedite the NCR land title process for the Bidayuh community.

“We as a community need to help ourselves, we cannot rely on the government for everything. So by doing this, the Bidayuh community is helping the community and the government to speed up the process.

“We must do this because Bidayuh themselves are the ones who know their own land boundaries,” he said.

Earlier at the event, DBNA’s land documentation project chairman William Nyigor said among the purpose of the project was to reduce land border dispute among villagers and expedite the process of giving out NCR land title.

He added that DBNA had spent about RM200,000 for the initiative and 338 villages had been briefed and trained on the initiative, 200 villages have started the documentation and 47 villages completed the documentation process.

(Source:  The Borneo Post, 25 November 2012)