By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, May 8: Sarawak Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn has called out what he described as “sleeping” Bidayuh villages for failing to apply for Native Customary Rights (NCR) land surveys despite various forms of assistance being made available.
He said some villages had many highly educated people but were still not proactive in securing their NCR land rights.
“There are some kampungs who don’t wake up. They have a lot of qualified people there, not just from Primary 1, but up to PhD level even. But the kampung never applies to be surveyed,” he said when speaking during the official opening of the 11th Triennial General Assembly (TGA) 2026 of the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) at the DBNA Headquarters Multipurpose Hall in Jalan Kumpang here tonight.
Sagah, who is also DBNA advisor and Prima Bidayuh, further urged community leaders to play a more active role in mobilising villagers to initiate the survey application process.
According to him, some elected representatives had even provided financial assistance to help communities carry out the surveys, yet certain villages still failed to take action.
“I am bewildered by this sort of thing,” he remarked.
He further said the public should not believe claims that the Sarawak government did not want to survey Dayak land, pointing out that Bidayuh and Dayak leaders in the government were themselves advocating for the surveys to be carried out.
“So, don’t listen to all the political talks saying that the government don’t want to survey Dayak land. But we are Bidayuh. We are Dayak, are we not?” he said.
Referring to a report presented earlier by DBNA incumbent president Datuk Ik Pahon Joyik, Sagah reiterated that almost 95 per cent of the applications submitted had progressed smoothly, with some already resulting in land titles being issued.
“So, if there is any kampung who haven’t done this survey, blame the clever people. Blame the community leaders, because they are not doing anything to help yourself,” he added.
Meanwhile, Datuk Ik Pahon Joyik earlier stated that the number of registered Bidayuh villages had increased to 406 from 338 when the initiative first began.
He said applications had been submitted for 235 villages to be surveyed under the Perimeter Survey Section 6 programme, with 86 already gazetted.
For housing lots under Section 18, Ik Pahon said applications had been submitted for 203 villages, of which 200 had been approved, while survey works for Kampung Tradisi were still being carried out by the Land and Survey Department.
He added that for agricultural lots under Section 18, applications had been submitted for 126 villages, with 123 already approved. — DayakDaily
