By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, Nov 3: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas has questioned Works Minister Baru Bian’s role in the Federal Cabinet for not seeking allocations for perimeter survey exercise for Sarawak.
Speaking to the press after attending Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) supreme council meeting held its headquarters here today, Uggah said, as a Federal minister, he had failed to highlight the matter before the budget was tabled.
“When I was in the Federal Government, I was the one who brought up the matter to the (Federal) Cabinet. Now what is Baru doing? He said, he is the champion of ‘tanah’ (native customary right (NCR) land matters), but when it comes to asking money for getting land titles, I did not see the allocation.
“It is very sad because normally before they (Minister of Finance) tabled the budget, they would normally table it to the cabinet first, similar to our practice here in Sarawak”.
Uggah said Baru should have highlighted the issue during the cabinet meeting prior to the tabling of the budget, otherwise, Baru was not fair to Sarawak as he is the only representative from Sarawak in the cabinet who could voice up the matter.
“He should voice the needs of Sarawak. Otherwise, what is he doing there?” asked Uggah.
Uggah, who is also Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development, revealed that under the previous administration, Sarawak has received an annual grant of RM30 million for the purpose and so far, it has received an accumulative amount of about RM100 million.
When asked whether the perimeter survey exercise will be continued, Uggah quipped, “I will discuss it with the Chief Minister during Council Negeri meeting”. — DayakDaily
