“IF WE GO BY THAT RATE, WE WILL NEVER SOLVE OUR PROBLEM FOR GENERATIONS.” - MAIJOL

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Mobile Land Unit a good move – Maijol

KOTA KINABALU Oct 15, 2011: United Pasokmomogun KadazanDusun Murut Organization (UPKO) vice president Senator Datuk Maijol Mahap has described the decision by the Land and Survey Department to form a Mobile Land Unit to study and assist land applications throughout the state as a good move.

“This is what I proposed in my paper I presented in the recent Land and Native Law seminar which was organized by UPKO’s Legal and Land Matter Bureau. My proposal in the seminar was later adopted in a resolution passed by UPKO delegates in the party’s triennial congress last month,” Maijol said in a statement, yesterday.

The mobile unit is similar to the National Registration Department’s (NRD) which was formed to facilitate the late registration of birth certificates and MyKad and this could help ease the problems of the people, especially those in the rural areas, he added.

He however was of the opinion that the Mobile Land Unit’s jurisdiction shouldn’t be just dealing with land applications as it should also deal with the many NCR (native customary right) disputes and claims throughout the state.

“I know many natives in Sabah occupying state land for many years and are entitled for the NCR under Section 15 of the Land Ordinance but their status remains dubious because their right on the land based on the NCR has never been ascertained.

“Their NCR existence should be dealt with in accordance with the Sabah Land Ordinance, i.e, they should be granted the land title. The proposed Mobile Land Unit should also deal with this matter too,” he stressed.

On the accumulated land applications, Maijol said the 280,000 pending applications reflected how much work the state government still had to do in easing up the land application problem.

Out of this, only 12,000 land applications could be processed every year, he said adding: “If we go by that rate, we will never solve our problem for generations.

He also said that it was common knowledge that there was a massive delay in the land applications, approving the applications, surveying and in preparing the land titles in Sabah.

“However I know that the Land and Survey Department is always trying to do their best to find ways to improve and for this matter UPKO wants to record its thanks and appreciation to Datuk Osman Jamal for the formation of the Mobile Land Unit.

“Better late than never… I hope they can solve their manpower problem too because the shortage of staff has contributed to the problem. And what’s the latest status of the proposed computerization of the land administration in Sabah?

“I hope all avenues are taken to solve or very much mitigate the land problems in the state,” Maijol said.

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JABATAN TANAH DAN UKUR SABAH MENGAMBIL MASA 20 TAHUN UNTUK MEMPROSES 285,000 PERMOHONAN TANAH ?

Sebanyak 285,000 permohonan tanah kini masih menunggu untuk diproses oleh Jabatan Tanah dan Ukur Sabah, berbanding keupayaan jabatan terbabit yang hanya mampu memproses di antara 12,000 hingga 16,000 permohonan setiap tahun.

Pengarah Jabatan Tanah dan Ukur Sabah Datuk Osman Jamal

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