KUCHING: Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian could not help being “amused” by the finger-pointing at the Federal Government because it did not make any specific allocation in its 2019 budget to conduct perimeter surveys of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land.
Baru, who is Works Minister, said land matters in the state were outside the purview of the Federal Government.
“Any allocation, if given, is a bonus,” he said in a press statement made available here yesterday.
The Selangau MP said the issue of the surveying of NCR land “is not as important to the people as the recognition of their native customary rights to their land”.
“This is because NCR exists whether it is surveyed or not – its existence does not arise from a survey,” he argued.
Baru said notwithstanding the Land Code (Amendment) Act 2018 that was passed last July, his stand remained that the state government had not fully recognised the NCR of the natives of Sarawak.
He said recognising only the usufructuary rights of the people “on the land and not in the land” was a half-hearted attempt, insisting the state government had not done its utmost to protect the rights of the people.
He further said: “The state government gave the rights to determine the issue of native customary rights to non-native ‘experts’.”
However, he did not elaborate.
