KUCHING: The Dayak community is appealing to the federal government to increase the allocation for Program Khas Bumiputera (PKB) which is the Native Customary Rights (NCR) land measurement cluster.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said a sum of RM150 million was allocated from 2010 to 2017. However, this has decreased drastically since 2018.
He said the total NCR land areas in Sarawak were estimated to be around 1.5 million hectares and out of the figure, only 1.1 million hectares had been surveyed under Section 6 of Sarawak Land Code, while only 85,000 hectares or 68,7000 lots had been fully surveyed in accordance with Section 18.
“Both the federal and state governments contribute to the costs of the survey. A sum of RM150 million in grants was given under PKB from 2010 to 2017.
“However, after 2018, much to our utter disappointment, the amount allocated was drastically reduced. In fact this year, only RM2 million was given.
“Therefore, I humbly appeal to the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) on behalf of the Dayak community to consider increasing the allocation for NCR land survey under PKB,” he said during the Gawai Dayak 2023 celebration at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) on Wednesday (June 7).
Uggah added that NCR land was a very sensitive issue to the community and that every election, the issue would be exploited by the opposition to instigate, especially the Dayak community.
“Fortunately, the majority of the Dayak do not fall victims to the instigations and deceptions,” he said.
Uggah said the Dayak community thanked Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg and the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government for taking concrete steps to resolve the NCR land issues which included the amendment of the State Land Code to give recognition to the native territorial domain.
With the latter, the long standing dispute is now resolved.
Following this, the state government also embarked on a statewide survey of the NCR land with the ultimate objective of giving the land titles to the rightful owners.
Meanwhile, Uggah also expressed his gratitude to Anwar for approving a sum of RM1 million to the organising committee for the Gawai Dayak 2023 celebration.
He then urged Anwar and the Unity Government to continue listening and taking necessary actions on the pleas and hopes of the Dayak community.
Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and wife, Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Raghad Kurdi Taib, Anwar, Abang Johari, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian and other distinguished guests were among those present.
