By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, May 15: The Land Code (Amendment) Bill 2022, which will be tabled during the upcoming Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting, has nothing to do with native customary rights (NCR) land.
DUN Speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar assured this at a press conference held at Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Headquarters in Jalan Bako today.
“This is a very sophisticated Bill with far-reaching implications and ramifications. It gravitates around the definition of what land is. For the rest, I will let the minister (in charge) elaborate and deliberate (on the Bill).
“Be rest assured (that) this amendment (Bill) has nothing to do with NCR. It is totally new. You would not expect (it),” he said.
The Bill will be tabled by Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali on May 18.
The second and third readings of the amendment Bill will also be held on the same day.
Apart from the Bill, Asfia also informed that Deputy Premier-cum-Second Minister for Natural Resources and Urban Development Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan would table the Forests (Amendment) Bill, 2022 the following day.
He stressed that the Bill would have wide-ranging implications on expanding the definition of timber produce.
Asked if the two Bills are related or not, Asfia said yes but refused to comment further out of fear that the meaning would shift.
Asfia also congratulated Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg for his foresight with ideas and concepts on the Bills and Sarawak Legal Advisor Datuk Seri JC Fong for working hand-in-hand with the current State Attorney-General’s Office to come up with the Bills.
“This is never done before. It is like casting a stone into the lake, and the ripples will go far,” he emphasised. — DayakDaily
