KUCHING, July 9: The main objective of the Land Code (Amendment) Bill, 2018, to be tabled at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) tomorrow, is to resolve the ‘Pemakai Menoa’ and ‘Pulau Galau’ (PMPG) issue and not to diminish Native Customary Rights (NCR) land.
‘Pemakai Menoa’ refers to territorial domain, while ‘Pulau Galau’ refers to communal forest reserves.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the proposed amendment was to resolve the PMPG issue as it currently did not have the force of law.
“This is the commitment of our state government, to make sure it is resolved. We (state government) have no other intentions. (We) just want it to be resolved. The outcome will not result in any NCR land under Section 5 (of the Land Code) to diminish. Our community will not lose their land to the new amendment,” he assured during the Sarakup Indu Dayak Sarawak (SIDS) Anniversary Dinner here on Sunday.
Uggah, who is also Minister of Modernization of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development, said details of the amendment would be revealed at the DUN.
On the amendment being leaked online, Uggah noted that social media users had given a lot of differing feedback.
“A lot has been said on social media, and they are very interesting,” he said, adding that all feedback had been taken note of to draft the best possible solution for the issues at hand.
Yesterday, DUN Speaker Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar said the Land Code Amendment Bill 2018 would introduce the concept of ‘native territorial domain’ and ‘usufructuary rights’ to cover PMPG.
He said Uggah was scheduled to table the first reading on July 10 and the second and third reading on the following day. — DayakDaily
