RETURN OF ALL NCR TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

By : PKR MEDIA

IT is time for BN component parties especially UPKO, PBS and PBRS which are Kadazan-Dusun-Murut (KDM) based political parties to wake up and work towards the return of all native customary right (NCR) and ancestral land to the indigenous people of Sabah, said Datuk Kong Hong Ming, the presidential council member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah in response to the comment from UPKO Legal and Land Bureau chairman that NCR of natives were protected by reason of the High Court’s verdict allowing the appeal of the six villagers from Kampung Imahit in Tenom against conviction for trespassing the forest reserve.

“I am surprised and shock to know that these BN component parties have forgotten their root to their communities as well as their role, duty and responsibility as ruling parties within the state and central BN government. No wonder that the Deputy Prime Minister was quoted as saying that the land issues was due to the incompetence of their leaders while handing over the communal land title in Tongod recently.

“Merely feeling contended with the decision of the court in NCR cases without doing more and effective, these BN component parties have become irrelevant to the people.

“In order to reinvent their relevancy to the people, they have to be more than feeling contended with the favorable decision of the Court in vindicating the indigenous people.

“It has become a norm that BN component parties and their leaders chose to remain silent when the natives were prosecuted by Forestry Department or trespassing on forest reserve that was NCR land. Worst still, many natives whose houses were burnt down and crops destroyed by the Forestry Department were left without any help from BN parties and leaders.

“In agreeing with the State Government’s decision to appeal against the decision of the Justice Datuk David Wong is a direct challenge to the people’s fundamental right in NCR land and their ‘adat’ which is the law of the people under Federal Constitution. KDM leaders in BN government would be guilty of not doing anything to help the natives whose ancestral and NCR lands are being confiscated by the government under one pretext or another. Now if the appeal were to go ahead, they would appear to be in cahoots with UMNO to deny justice to the people and causing further deprivation, oppression and injustice to the indigenous people.

“There are 977 complaints of land grabs and encroachment of NCR land reported to SUHAKAM between 2005 to 2010 as well as documented 32,352 native families having NCR claims in the State, PKR Sabah is asking these BN component parties to take a common course to convince the present BN government especially UMNO to complete a full settlement exercise once and for all and to return all NCR land to the native communities.

“Being a major component of the ruling BN government, they should withdraw from BN if they were unable to convince the UMNO dominant government to resolve the land issues faced by the indigenous people and if they have the interest of the people at heart

“It is clearly provided in Sabah Land Ordinance that the State can by a gazette notice carry out a settlement exercise to identify survey and determine all NCR land and thereafter to issue communal titles to the indigenous communities or individual native titles to the natives who have established their NCR claims in state land.

“According to the records of the British administration, full settlement exercise of NCR land in Sabah (then North Borneo) was only partially completed.

“The very reason that such settlement mechanism was provided in Sabah Land Ordinance in 1930 was clear evidence that the State was empowered to carry out the settlement exercise to determine NCR land without burdening the natives to seek relief in court.

“It is clearly provided in Sabah Land Ordinance that the State can by a gazette notice carry out a settlement exercise to identify survey and determine all NCR land and to issue communal titles to the indigenous communities or individual native titles to the natives who have established their NCR claims in state land.

“Recently, Government practiced joint venture for oil palm plantation on state land occupied by native communities, applicable even to the issuance of new communal titles. This joint venture mechanism was seen as a mean of pre-empting objections from the native communities with the promise of dividends, which would mean a permanent loss of ancestral and NCR land and the gradual diminishment of the native communities.

Slamming the BN Government’s refusal to give recognition and effect to the decisions of the courts of law pronounced in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court which have decided that common law native title in land exists until today, the native of Sabah has to fight for his or her legitimate right on a case to case basis in court, said Kong.

“Based on the recent judicial pronouncements on NCR in land, it is time for the State Government to implement the mechanism of settlement exercise provided in Sabah Land Ordinance to identify, survey and settle all NCR land in Sabah giving effect to the pre-existing land right to the native communities without any further loss in time and right.

“Government’s priority is to complete the settlement exercise of NCR land in the State before embarking on any joint venture land development schemes of state land with corporations and government agencies.