By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, April 7: Two appeals have been made to challenge the Federal Court decisions of the Native Customary Rights (NCR) land cases of Tuai Rumah (TR) Sandah and TR Nyutan at the Federal Court today.
Both appeals are aimed at inviting the Federal Court to depart from the earlier decisions prior to the Sarawak Land Code Amendment 2018.
The lead counsel for both cases is social activist Dominique Ng who is also Sarawak Association of People’s Aspiration president. He was assisted by co-counsel Berrylin Ng.
Both appeals were heard by a five-member bench consisting of Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak (CJSS) Dato Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and four federal justices Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Dato Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Dato Sri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim and Datuk Harmindar Singh Khaliawal.
The Federal Court in TR Sandah case had held that the customary practices of ‘pemakai menoa’ and ‘pulau galau’ (PMPG or the territorial domain) do not have the force of law and therefore, cannot be claimed under NCR.
The Federal Court in TR Nyutan case, on the other hand, held that once a title has been issued, it will enjoy indefeasibility of title over NCR lands.
In order to right the wrong as precedented by the TR Sandah case, the Sarawak Assembly passed the Sarawak Land Code Amendment Bill in 2018 which came into force on Aug 1, 2019.
Following the passing of the amendment, PMPG or native territorial domain was given the force of law. The amendment also ensure perpetuity of native communal titles, which will confer on such title a proprietary right to the native territorial domain.
Once the title is issued, it will be treated as any title granted under the Land Code, and the propriety interest in that title would be indefeasible by virtue of Section 132 of the Land Code.
There were in total five cases challenging the case of TR Sandah, where three were heard today.
All five cases invited the court to depart from TR Sandah’s decision.
The panel, which was specially constituted to hear these appeals, had decided to defer judgment for all cases until all were heard. — DayakDaily
