STAR SABAH UNVEILS LAND REFORMS MASTERPLAN

STAR Sabah unveils Land Reforms Masterplan

KOTA KINABALU April 5, 2012: STAR Sabah yesterday announced its Land Reforms Masterplan which carried the theme ‘NCR First, Sabah Land for Sabahans First’.

Its state chairman, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan who made the announcement to a press conference yesterday, said under its Land and NCR Reforms Masterplan, STAR would respect and restore the rights of natives to NCR and native lands and prioritize land for all Sabahans based on its policy and vision of ‘NCR First, Sabah land for Sabahans’.

According to him, STAR’s Land and NCR Reforms Masterplan has three key objectives; namely to implement reforms of laws and administration relating to land and NCR, a more effective and efficient land administration and management as well as the resolution of land and NCR problems.

The reforms on land and NCR laws will ensure unequivocal and clear recognition of NCR as well as the establishment of Sabah Land and NCR Commission, Sabah Native Land Foundation and Sabah Land Tribunal.

There will also be a decentralization of land administration from central-based to region-based while the native land rights will be uplifted, strengthened and protected. A demographic mapping will be undertaken to identify and confirm native rights, NCR, land occupation and population while the category of land use in Native Titles (NT) will be extended to include commercial, industrial and other uses and not just restricted to agricultural use.

Speaking to reporters at the unveiling of the masterplan yesterday, Dr Jeffrey explained that the Land and NCR Commission would be tasked with implementing and managing a new land policy incorporating the masterplan and recognizing and prioritizing NCR and native rights and prioritizing Sabah’s land for Sabahans first.

The Commission would be responsible for the supervision of the land administration in the state where power and authority would not be concentrated in the hands of one person only, he said, adding that in the present system, the authority and decision of the director in alienating lands to anyone under Section 9 of the Land Ordinance could not even be appealed as provided in Section 41.

“Under the new land policy, NCR will be recognized first in land alienation after which Sabahans will be accorded priority. The present policy of the state government in failing to recognize NCR and alienating land to companies against existing original settlers will be abolished.

“The director of land recently disclosed that out of 2.1 million hectares of land available for alienation, the state had already alienated about 1.9 million hectares of which only 31 per cent was alienated to natives and the other 69 per cent to others.

“It is wrong for the government not to give priority to natives and Sabahans in land alienation. This land policy will put a stop to the current land and NCR disputes where companies are given vast tracts of tens of thousands of acres leading to destruction of plants and crops of the original settlers, and the destruction of homes and eviction of natives will be stopped,” he stressed.

He also said that policies on land alienation would be adopted among which are that land would only be rented or leased to the federal government or federal agencies and land ownership would be retained by the state in perpetuity, and for lands alienated for agricultural purposes on a commercial basis would be required to include a 30 per cent of the land area to be developed and owned by Sabah Natives (Land) Foundation with a provision for reimbursement of development costs.

According to him, the process of renewal of leases would be simplified and approved based on semi-automatic renewal basis and all 999-year leases would be given the same leasehold period upon conversion, and not new 99-year leasehold titles, and a periodical 10-15 years review of land premiums would be considered.

“Native rights under NCR will be recognized first and for non-NCR lands, priority will be given to Sabahans,” he said, adding that a new system of recognition of NCR claims and owners would be adopted.

The current process of making natives claiming NCR via a land application (LA) or “permohonan tanah” (PT) will be changed as it may not be correct.

Dr Jeffrey was of the opinion that natives should not be made to “apply for land” where the issue was whether they were the legitimate NCR owners which would be determined by a new NCR Land Process (NLP).

NCR ownership and claims would be determined via the NLP with a client charter of resolution by the NLP in six months for normal cases and 12 months for complicated cases, he said.

“As for land administration reforms, they will include the establishment of the Land and NCR Commission, that the land administration be handled through three departments as well as the Land and Survey Department split into two departments, namely Land Department and Survey and Mapping Department,” he said.

A third department related to land matters, namely Valuation And Property Services Department will also come under the purview of the Commission.

Dr Jeffrey disclosed that the objective of the Land and NCR Commission would be to take charge, streamline and oversee land administration in Sabah and to resolve all land issues, problems and related matters.

The responsibilities of the commission include the formulation the new land policies and other land policies from time to time, to review and recommend law reforms pertaining to land, NCR and land administration, to oversee the land, survey and mapping, and valuation and property services departments, to act as a bridge between the three departments and the rakyat and clients including the handling of public complaints, to work with the land tribunal and assistance towards resolution of land disputes and problems and to review and recommend changes to land premiums and land revenues.

Amongst the new policies to be adopted under the new land laws will be that native lands and native titles will not just be confined to agriculture use only but also commercial, industrial and other uses and that “Native Land Reserves” will be established in every administrative region for the benefit of future generations.

There will be no alienation of land to federal agencies or agencies from other states, there will be a review of all lands alienated to federal agencies or agencies from other states for agriculture purposes and federal agropolitan and other agriculture projects will not be granted land rights which will be reserved for qualified natives and other Sabahans only.

The issuance of communal titles would be reviewed together with existing policies on land, forest reserves and NCR, Dr Jeffrey added.

On the issue of communal titles, the state administration should reconsider the issuance of communal titles and not merely rush through the process and give out communal titles without considering the NCR claims of legitimate NCR owners who might have been legal owners for several generations and which applications have been pending for years, some even decades, he stressed.

“Where applicable, NCR titles should be issued to these NCR owners before blanket cancellation of their NCR ownership through the issuance of new communal titles over the NCR lands and NCR applications.

“The rights of owners of communal titles should be considered first and not “robbed” through the imposition of trustees or third parties who make decisions as though they are the owners when the natives are the legitimate owners of the communal title.

“If the state administration is looking to protect rights of the natives and prevent sale, there are many better alternatives such as only transfers through succession only or to family and related persons,” he said.

The sudden rush-job of issuing communal titles, according to Dr Jeffrey, could only be interpreted as solely for political reasons due to the pending general election to appease local natives and to quell their growing anger against the political leaders who had alienated their NCR lands to companies which in turn had destroyed their crops, plants, homes and evicted them from their own land.

The Sabah Native Land Foundation, he said, would be entrusted to safeguard and act as guardians of native land rights as the natives being the indigenous people of Sabah are the owners of the land which existed before the British colonial times or the promulgation of the Land Ordinance and long before Malaysia was formed.

The Foundation will hold lands on behalf of all natives in Sabah as well as the percentage allocation of land alienated for commercial agriculture purposes. It will also act as a safety net for native lands facing foreclosure and auctions and will buy at or before auction and or settle the outstanding debts and hold the native lands concerned and the owner will be granted the opportunity to buy back or redeem the native land concerned.

The Foundation will also assist natives in all matters relating to native lands.

A Sabah Land Tribunal would be formed to administer justice in relation to land matters in Sabah and to adjudicate all land disputes and problems. It would be similar to what the industrial court, consumer tribunal and housing tribunal and would work in conjunction with the civil court system and the native court system, he added.