Kuching:  The perimeter survey and declaration of native customary rights (NCR) land should be done under Section 18 instead of Section 6 of the State Land Code, says state PKR chief Baru Bian. 

According to him, Section 18 is favoured because Section 6 will cause problems when the perimeter survey exercise is carried out.

“Section 6 concerns communal reservers land where the poser is given to the minister to make directives for the survey exercises,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

He said under Section 6, once the survey was done and determined, it would lead to the presumption that what was not included in the perimeter was state land.

He said more problems arose when a burial ground happened to be on what was presumed as state land whereas it had been determined that burial ground was the  strongest evidence of an NCR land. 

To avoid such confusion, he advocated for Section 18 to be used as the land title would be issued to the rightful landowners once they had been proven to believing or occupying the land for many years.

“The importance of Section 18 is that the title issued is perpetuity and there is no requirement for the land owners to pay any quit rent.

“With the title, a landowner can sell his land, charge it to the bank and do anything with it,” said Baru who is also Ba’Kelalan assemblyman.

He said the state government should give out land titles of this nature more often instead of only during election time. 

“At the moment,  the landowners are deemed to be holding the land by licence form the government. 

Last week, the Land and Survey Department dismissed Krian assemblyman Ali Biju’s claim that the perimeter survey and declaration of NCR land under Section 6 as native communal reserve would downgrade the NCR status. 

The department said the rights over the land gazetted as communal reserve land was administered and regulated by the native system of personal law of the native communities concerned.

The department also pointed out that the acquisition, usage, transfer of transmission of rights and privileges over and, buildings or any structure thereon shall be governed by the customary law of the native communities for whose benefit the communal reserve is declared.

It said the declaration under Section 6 was part of the two-step approach with two deliverables under the current new NCR initiative announced by the Prime Minister in June last year to continuously recognize native rights over their land and provide security of land ownership to Bumiputera.

(Source: The Star, 6 September 2011)