KUCHING, July 6: Sarawak natives, Dayak non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community leaders, lawyers, politicians and concerned citizens are against the proposed amendments to the Sarawak Land Code on PMPG (‘Pemakai Menoa’ and ‘Pulau Galau’).
The proposed amendment is to be tabled in the State Legislative Assembly starting this July 9, but an alleged copy of it has been leaked online.
A group, which opposed the amendments, released a video of a meeting held at Telang Usan Hotel in Miri last night to voice their strong objection to the amendments.
In the video, they were seen shouting “We oppose the proposed amendments to the state Land Code for the PGPM, 2018” (“Kami menulok dengan sekeras-kerasnya pindahan Kanun Tanah Negeri Sarawak PGPM 2018”).
In a statement today, the group mentioned that an urgent meeting would be called to discuss the proposed amendments.
“The proposed amendments, if approved, will leave us natives (Orang Asal) of Sarawak in a much worse situation than now.
“We will lose more of our rights and our native customary rights (NCR) land. Therefore, we must come up with a collective statement on this very important issue.
“We call on all our YBs (elected assemblymen) of Pakatan Rakyat and GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) to oppose the proposed amendments,” said Micheal Jok, secretary-general of Society for Rights of Indigenous People of Sarawak (Scrips).
He also urged all the natives of Sarawak to stand united to fight for their rights.
Scrips had on June 22 this year requested Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas to make public the proposed amendment before tabling it in the Sarawak Assembly.
They had also submitted a copy of “Deklarasi Tanah Adat Orang Asli Sarawak 2017” to Uggah, who is also Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Minister, at the latter’s office in Wisma Bapa Malaysia on the same day.
The Land Code Amendment Bill is among two Bills that are expected to be tabled in the upcoming DUN Sitting. The other Bill is the Oil Mining Ordinance (OMO) Amendment Bill, 2018.
The Land Code Amendment Bill is expected to be tabled by Uggah, while the OMO Amendment Bill is expected to be tabled by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan. — DayakDaily
