KUCHING, Jan 28: A prominent Dayak non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the state has requested to see the draft of the amendments to be made to the Sarawak Land Code before it is made into law.
“Civil society and general people like us would like to know what are the proposed amendments — the actual wording of the proposed amendments to which part of the land code,” Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA) president Sidi Munan said.
SADIA, one of the largest and oldest Dayak NGOs in the state which has been assisting Dayak landowners in native customary rights (NCR) land disputes, was not invited to attend the Pemakai Menoa and Pulau Galau (PMPG) conference held at a hotel here last week.
The NCR rally held in Kuching last November 13 and attended by thousands of native landowners was organised by SADIA.
“No, I was not invited (to the PMPG conference). I cannot comment (on the outcome of the conference) but we would like to know the actual wording of the proposed amendments so we can to follow up on this,” Sidi told DayakDaily.
He added that it is important for civil society and the community to know what would be amended before it is tabled at the State Legislative Assembly so they could help to explain to the people too.
The PMPG conference, which was part of a two-track programme by the government to settle NCR issues, was attended by Opposition representatives, amongst others.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas who heads the PMPG task force said recommendations and proposals presented at the conference would be compiled and followed up on by a task force led by Deputy State Secretary Datu Jaul Samion.
This would then be presented to the state government as a guide to amend the Land Code before tabling the amendments in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) session in July.
The committee to be led by Jaul will study all the input and make recommendations on the definition of PMPG to resolve longstanding PMPG issues, so that PMPG will have the force of law and be recognised by the government. — DayakDaily
