Time for govt to review policy on native customary land: Dompok

Malaysia Today
28 March 2006


Time for govt to review policy on native customary land: Dompok

Daily Express, Sabah

Keningau: Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Bernard
Dompok said it is time for the Government to review its policy on
native customary lands so that Bumiputeras could get a fair treatment.

Speaking after opening a seminar on Native Customary Rights (NCR) for
the Interior Upper zone at Hotel Juta here, Friday, he said it was
necessary for the State Government to formulate a policy that could
provide sufficient breathing space for customary land owners to
defend their inherited properties handed down for generations.

Citing an example, Dompok who is also Upko President, said there had
been several cases where houses existed in specific areas for years,
but the owners were not given a land title with a claim that their
abodes were located in a forest reserve.

"How could the area be a forest reserve when there were no more trees
of importance?" he asked.

In this respect, the seminar was aimed at fostering better
understanding among the native landowners of their rights and how
they could be helped to channel their grouses on any infringement of
their rights, he said.

Dompok regretted that land applications often took years to process,
and this resulted in overlapping applications, coupled with a certain
degree of confusion.

Earlier applications were often disregarded to give way to fresh
applications, especially those filed by big companies.

"I am touching on this issue as a leader of a Barisan Nasional
component party, and it is our obligation to help them overcome their
predicament," he said.

He hoped the seminar could formulate several suggestions that could
be forwarded to the State Government for consideration. The seminar,
involving 300 participants, was also attended by Assemblyman Bobby
Suan (Nabawan) and Justin Guka (Bingkor).