By DayakDaily Team
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5: Sarawak is ready to share its land administration and resource management expertise and systems with the federal government to improve nationwide implementation efficiency.
According to a press release, Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the matter was among the issues he raised when attending the 83rd National Land Council Meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim here today, which he attended on behalf of Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Awang Tengah said the matters discussed included a proposal to complete land title registration and land transactions within one day, adding that Sarawak had already implemented a similar approach through its eLASIS system.
“Our system not only covers land ownership but also about 67 types of transactions, including caveats, charges, and subleases,” he told the media after the meeting.
He said Sarawak’s system had attracted attention during the meeting, and the State government was prepared to share its experience and expertise if this could help improve the effectiveness of the federal land administration system.
The meeting also discussed the country’s commitment to maintaining at least 50 per cent of Malaysia’s land area as forested areas.
In this regard, Awang Tengah said Sarawak’s sustainable forest management practices and land-use policies continued to contribute significantly to achieving the national target.
He said about 62 per cent of Sarawak’s area remained covered by forests, making Sarawak and Sabah’s contributions significant in helping Malaysia fulfil its commitment to maintaining forest cover.
As such, he proposed giving Sarawak and Sabah appropriate incentives, including through the Ecological Fiscal Transfer (EFT) mechanism, to support their continued efforts to conserve forest areas.
On reforestation efforts, he said Sarawak had planted about 67 million trees under the Malaysia Greening Programme, achieving its target ahead of schedule, and will continue its efforts until 2030, with a new target of planting 50 million trees.
Awang Tengah also shared Sarawak’s experience in using geolocation systems in the forestry sector, including identifying timber locations and species.
He said the system had already been implemented in Sarawak, and the State was prepared to share the approach if the federal government was interested in studying it.
On the mining and mineral sector, he said Sarawak had its own guidelines and approaches to ensure that the potentially significant sector could generate greater returns for the State in terms of contributions to gross domestic product (GDP), employment opportunities, and technology transfer.
He stressed that Sarawak welcomed foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic direct investment (DDI), but investors in the mineral sector should not merely carry out upstream activities to extract resources before exporting them in raw form.
Instead, investments should cover the entire value chain, including upstream, midstream and downstream industries, to generate greater added value in Sarawak.
He said the same approach applied to the development of rare earth elements (REE), with investors required to comply with Sarawak government guidelines and carry out processing activities in the State.
The Sarawak government would also study any relevant federal government guidelines, but the sector’s development would continue to be guided and regulated by Sarawak’s policies and interests. — DayakDaily
