KUCHING: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) Youth chief Gerald Rentap Jabu questioned the motive behind Works Minister Baru Bian’s silence during a recent Sarawak State Action Council (Majlis Tindakan Negeri Sarawak – MTNS) meeting pertaining to federal funding for surveying native customary rights (NCR) land.
“There is no need to be polite if by not being so you can make it better for Sarawakians,” he said referring to a statement by Baru on why he kept ‘silent’ when the council was discussing federal funding for NCR land surveys and other projects.
“Secondly, being ‘silent’ does not solve issues. The survey of NCR land is very important especially to the Dayaks, be it perimeter surveys under Section 6 or Section 18.
“Denying funding or putting conditions on it is tantamount to denying natives their rights,” he said.
Rentap, who is also PBB youth chief, pointed out that as co-chairman of the MTNS together with Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Baru should have participated in the discussion not only on funding but also policies that eventually needed financial allocations to be implemented.
He said the GPS government made every effort to further protect Sarawak and her subjects’ rights in the context of being an equal partner in Malaysia.
Baru in his statement earlier said he kept silent when asked to comment on the funding for the NCR survey “because I felt the MTNS is not the right forum to discuss the matter further”.
