Baru slams Najib for not knowing land issues
Sarawak PKR chief says throwing money at the problem is no solution if government ignores native rights.
PETALING JAYA: The Federal Government has come under fire for “throwing money at the problem” of native customary land without understanding native culture and ignoring the people’s rights.
Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian said: “To the people, their land is their life and it is deeply connected with their culture and their pride.”
He sneered at an announcement by the Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Razak of a RM100 million allocation to survey NCR land in Sarawak.
“If he really cares about the natives’ NCR claims, he should take some time to read the numerous judgments that have been handed down by the courts,” he said in a statement today.
Baru pointed out that the judges had decided that NCR land includes the “pemakai menoa” and “pulau galau” of the people and was not confined to the “temuda”, a smaller area which the government was willing to survey.
“Any areas outside the surveyed areas are classified as state land,” he said.
The people were being misled into believing that they are getting individual titles to the land. “In fact, the government is turning NCR land into native communal land, shared by the members of the community, possibly including those who have no NCR rights,” said Baru.
Baru, who seeks re-election in Ba’Kelalan, accused the state government of not being serious about NCR land by rejecting his attempts in the state assembly to amend the definition of NCR in the National Land Code to include the pemakai menoa and pulau galau.
He challenged the Barisan Nasional’s Dayak candidates to state their stand and for members of the previous state assembly to explain why they joined their BN colleagues to deny their own people’s rights to land passed down through generations.
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He said the Pakatan Harapan, if it came to power, would set up a land commission to investigate the people’s land claims, amend the Land Code, and make full restitution to owners of NCR land.