MIRI:  Some owners have shown a lackadaisical attitude towards the government’s efforts to carry out perimeter survey on their native customary rights (NCR) land even though the move will benefit them, says Land Development Assistant Minister Sylvester Entri Muran.

He said these owners, whom he believed had been influenced by certain opposition parties or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), had deliberately shown no sense of urgency when requested to assist in the survey work even when they were paid to do so by the government.

“Ironically, when the opposition parties or the NGOs told them that they (the opposition parties and NGOs) could secure titles for their land, although they can’t, the owners willingly carried out their own surveys without any payment,” he said here yesterday.

He said the attitude of the owners would only delay the process of completing the survey work and cause them to lose in terms of the benefits that they would be getting once ownership had been properly documented.

Apart from having their ancestral land rights being recognized, the surveyed lands could spin better incomes for the owners when properly developed, he added.

Earlier, Entri had officiated at the handing-over ceremony of upfront payments totaling about RM2 mil to 215 landowners who participated in the PJP Pelita Ulu Teru NCR land development project at Rumah Panjang Peter Lembang, about 120 km from here. - Bernama

(Source:  The Star, 29 May 2011)