NCR land issue ‘recycled’ every time there’s an election, claims Amar Awang

KUCHING: The government has no reason to confiscate land from the people and has hit out at the Opposition for “recycling” the issue every time there is an election to scare people, claims former Sarawak deputy chief minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan (pic).

He dismissed such claims made by the Opposition as untrue, pointing out that the government had in fact, given land to the people through the Native Customary Rights (NCR) land measurement initiative.

Awang Tengah said the government had been carrying out NCR land surveying work since the 1960s.

“As of 2010, some 260,000 hectares of land have been measured,” he said when handing over land title deeds at Kampung Jugan in Bau, about 40km from the state capital.

A total of 415 deeds were handed over to 355 recipients as a result of land surveying work under the NCR land-surveying programme for traditional villages.

Kuching Division Land and Survey superintendent Alfian Bawi said that as of Dec 10, a total of 18,412 title deeds under Section 18 of the State Land Code had been issued to 108 villages in the division.

A traditional village is a village that has existed for a long time and is recognised by the government by issuing a permanent land title deed under Section 18 of the State Land Code for residential use.