Most Natives own plenty of land; each of them may own between 10 to 300 acres. However, their lands largely remain idle and do not have values; at one time the value may range from RM100 to RM200 per acres only. Firstly, the lands, which they own under Native customary right, do not have titles. Secondary the land may be one to 10 miles away from the main roads. For the Bidayuhs, who are found mainly in Kuching and Samarahan divisions, their lands are either on the hills or on undulating terrains. The lands are classified as Native Customary right lands or (NCR land), if they are occupied or cleared by Natives for farming on or before January 1, 1958. The land cannot be considered NCR land if they are occupied or cleared after that date without written permissions from Residents of the respective divisions. Sarawak has more than 12 million hectares of land. Its size is about 94% of the Peninsular Malaysia.
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Stumbin-Bijat area prepares to be the next Rice Bowl of Malaysia |
Arguably, the Natives have accumulated large tracts of land over the years through the traditional farming practices of shifting cultivation. They are very sentimental and protective towards the lands though they remain idle and do not bring any income to them. Understandably, they want the government to translate boundaries of their lands that are being determined roughly from one tree to another tree or from rock on this side to another on the other side. But the boundary cannot be precise when the two connecting points are very big. For example, how to determine the centre of a rock or a tree? That explains why they have thousands of unsettled court cases relating to land disputes among them. For example, when a tuai rumah decides, the loser normally does not accept the decision and appeals to the Penghulu. If the penghulu decides in his favor, the previous winner will appeal to the District Officer. Again the case may not end there.
Perhaps, those involved in land disputes must start considering the expenses involved in pursuing their cases to the higher levels of the judiciary. For example, if those involved from Kanowit or Julau have to attend court cases in Sibu, is it really worth doing so? Quite obviously, those involved in prolonged land disputes are no longer for the land but their pride; they do not want to lose in court cases. Regrettably, the system of development cannot be based on pride of the people. In other words, the system cannot to accede to their controversies in the interests of the larger public.
Obviously, if the courts cannot decide on land disputes and if the Theodolite cannot fix a total boundary that the people can agree to, there is no solution to the problem. Perhaps, political and community leaders should work harder to convince land owners to work together for common benefits. The Government may have to consider engaging people with experience in dealing with the Natives to talk to them to develop their land together. The land owners should start asking themselves which is more beneficial to quarrel or develop their land together in order to get good income from them.
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| Stumbin- Bijat Paddy Field |
Ironically, though the Natives have plenty of land they remain poor. At one time, they were outside the definition of national policy of helping the poverty groups as outlined in the New Economic Policy as No.1 the landless people; No.2 residents in new villages or people, who had to be resettled in new areas as part of the security arrangement in the 50s and 60s; and No.4 estate laborers, who were mainly Indians, working in overcrowded estates; their population had increased but the sizes of estates remained the same.
However, the State government, since 1981 had to highlight the problem that the natives, through they had lands actually belonged to the hard core poverty group. The definition of poverty as outlined in the New Economic Policy could not be applicable to Sarawak . For this reason, the State government had to implement the policy quite differently, though the objectives remained the same. The native land owners in rural areas should not be left to themselves in developing their land using the old ways. It is incumbent upon politicians whether in the government or opposition to find common solution. It is very pertinent that the Native land owners must be able to protect their rights in any venture that involves their land.
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Seeds Production and Processing Centre - Research & Development in Stumbin |
The Natives are very protective and emotional about their land as it gives them a false sense of security. To exploit their feeling and emotion, as being done by some groups, to go against proposals to develop their land, is actually an act to perpetuate their hardship and to put them into shame of being stupid and ignorant on how to develop their land. Preferably, the land should remain one piece and become assets and can be used in a joint venture project with people, who have money, knowledge of management and the established marketing network.
The value of NCR land will remain low for as long as their status and purpose remain the same. However, they could go up if any form of development could be brought near to them. Otherwise, they will remain idle and do not command much value. They could be likened to those in Fiji , New Guinea
The concept of NCR must necessarily go back to the basic of whether land is an asset or not. What the owners have been doing is to farm the area for certain seasons. They chop off all trees and burn them for planting seeds in the process. In the old days, the shifting cultivators moved from one place to another to farm. After some time the topsoil would be washed away. Eventually, land would become useless. They abandon the area when the land become wallow and move to new areas. Hence, the land is not being treated as assets.
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The Ibans, for example, value “tajau” (jars) or any other valuable things that are mobile and saleable more than their land. In other words, lands do not constitute as transact able items. In the modern economy, things like that are no good for the people. Why freeze the land, when they can be converted to become assets? They should be made into something that can give a form of wealth or generate wealth to the owners. As it is now, the people, though they have land, still live in poverty. Therefore, their land have not been playing proper role in their life.
Many new concepts about land have to be cultivated among the people in order to help them to enter a more modern type of economy. However, they must first of all regard land as asset and their usage can bring about positive changes in their economic activities. More importantly, they must adjust to changing times. In economics, land is called a factor of production – an element that can be used to stimulate production. Land, by itself, cannot bring about production – that is to say to generate wealth. Labor, management, entrepreneurship and capital must be involved in production. If these factors are not present then land is not productive. This is the basic economics doctrine being propounded by Adam Smith.
Back in 1980, the demographic pattern was slightly more than 20% of the people live in urban areas and almost 80% in rural areas. But today the reverse has happened it is more than 50 percent urban and the rest, rural. However, there are still a large number of people who are still tied to the land. Hence, any program that omits land development will not reach these disadvantaged rural people in Sarawak . Besides their land must not be left idle and remain unproductive. The old way to cultivate land on individual basis is not productive. The most an individual farmer can do is to cultivate five acres of land.
The government’s decision to develop land schemes the private sector way is being mitigated by the principle that it should not spend money if it can’t expect to make profits. The first aim of the private sector is to spend money if it can get profits. Besides, many estate developers start to show keen interests to invest in the development of oil palm estates. The estate developers can get involved in the development of NCR land through Native Estate Development Program with the primary objective to develop NCR land for commercial purposes. It is based on the principle of combining capital with asset in the process of development.
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| Kabong Irrigation Scheme |
The capital comes from investors, who have money, regimented labor and management expertise and land from the people. It was a bold step being taken by the government with the knowledge that only development can bring about positive changes to people and elevate them from the lower level to high level of income while the poverty trap will drag them down. It was prepared to deal with un-cooperative Native land owners and risked being hurled with all sorts of unsavory accusations and allegations by groups with very narrow crusade or out to gain political points. The opposition takes the easy way out by playing on the sentiments of the people to go against any land development involving NCR land. It offers no alternative.
However, for a land scheme to be viable, for example to develop oil palm estate, it needs a minimum of 5,000 hectares. It is the viable size for the estate to have a processing mill. If the estate does not have a mill, the palm fruits will be useless – they are as good as any inedible jungle fruits. The estate needs professional people to ensure that the trees are cultivated in a scientific way and the plantation is managed using the latest technology. It is never an easy task to develop NCR lands, with the natives being very sentimental about their land and the opposition out to make it an issue to discredit the government. However, it is better to pursue the transformation now, how difficult it may be, to enable the people to benefit from development in future. For example, the owners can keep their land as assets and shares, which can be divided among their children in future, in the joint venture project.
The Native land owners, like the non-Natives, must be able to see how their land could play an important part in the process of change of their livelihood. They will not be able to benefit from development if they remain over-emotional about their land and being trapped in the old ways of trying to cultivate small plots of land of between five or ten acres on their own. They must get out from this kind of mental block and be prepared to pursue new ways of earning a living; otherwise, they will forever be trapped in poverty.
An overwhelming majority of the people until 20 years ago were very poor even though their lands, which they had inherited from their parents or grandparents or through their own initiatives to occupy or farm the land, were already there for a long time. There was no improvement in their livelihood. Therefore, they must now be convinced that land without development, is a poverty trap. Normally, land would continue to command very low price unless attention is being given to it. Once efforts are being made to bring development to the area, their prizes will go up. In other words, with development, the land starts to have value and without it, the land remains having no value. For example, if there is a proposal to develop Ba’kelalan as a new growth centre, people will scramble to buy land in the highland.
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| Kanowit Oil Plantation Scheme |
But to bring in development to a certain area needs huge expenditure, for example, to develop the infrastructure like roads and those to connect water and electricity supplies. The drainage and irrigation have to be developed if it is to be carried out in coastal areas. Regrettably, some people have become victims of land speculation. The smart ones could anticipate development and decide to buy land cheaply. Besides, in most cases, once lands have been issued with titles, the poor people tend to be the first ones to lose their land, which they have sold at very cheap prices. Then, they start to curse and rant at the government for not giving them more land. Hence, conscientious efforts must be made to protect these people from unscrupulous land speculators.
On the other hand, poor people, who have land, are the ones who benefit the most from the development of NCR land. The moment a road is being built through their areas, their land increase in value. In the 70s, the price of Native Land
The government has to acquire the land and pay the owners at the prevailing market prices. It has been the practice when land are being acquired the owners have to be paid as fast as possible because prices of land change with time. The government officers, who are being tasked to acquire land, must know the purpose. The general principle is that land is being acquired for specific purpose. The exercise should not be unfair to land owners. The law regarding land acquisition must be strictly adhered to. The price must be paid in accordance to the prevailing market value.
Understandably, development is an economic phenomenon in which many economic forces come into play. The forces operate on market principles. Therefore, everything must be valued according to market principles. The problem with NCR land is the land has no title. Hence, there is no way of proving legally that it belongs to the claimant. He has to depend on other people’s words to verify that it belongs to him. For example, in a kampung when someone says a particular piece of land belongs to him and his family has owned it since his grandfather’s time, if the penghulu recognizes this and his neighbors also say so then the land belongs to him.
Clearly, there is a need for a person to have concrete evidence to prove his ownership of the land. He must be able to prove without doubt that the land is his based on evidence that he had cultivated the land and the evidence from aerial photography of the Land and Survey department. There are other problems associated with NCR land. It’s not only a matter of who owns the land but how big is the land? There is a need to have proof of the ownership and size of the land. Disputes arise over boundaries. According to Native Customary Law, the land near a kampung or longhouse belongs to the whole community – that why it is called Communal Rights land. The penghulu and the whole community recognize that when a man settles on a piece of a land it automatically belongs to him.
The basic guideline is to entertain genuine claims based on aerial photograph of the Land and Survey Department. Everything can be verified in the photograph; if the photos do not show land usage the claims cannot be entertained. The people can actually stop the development of their areas by making false claims. The investors would leave with the belief that Sarawak government had conned them. No other investors would dare to come in because there is no guarantee that they can develop the land. For example, to develop a 10,000- acre land, a developer would need a capital of RM30 million at RM3,000 per acre. How would he feel after having raised RM30 million to develop the land and get himself chased out?
Hence, the Government must take a tough stand and operate according to the law. This means everybody must be committed to uphold the sanctity of law. The administrative officers on the ground like SAOs, Dos and Residents and community leaders like Temenggong, Pemanca or penghulus must be committed to get Sarawak to move forward in development; otherwise no development can be done. Basically, the people must respect the law, because the law protects our rights. Development can take place only when the law operates and order and peace prevail.Therefore, for the sake of development people must not think only about protecting their land. They must protect their land by making sure that the land becomes an asset. The people, who have land, must be protected so that they can develop their assets. The land must be transact able so that they can be used as security for the owners for example to borrow money from the bank. If the land has no title, it is not transact able and no bank would lend money for its development. The onus is on the people to ensure that their land can be transacted. There’s no set market value for NCR land. It may be determined by the price of the nearest land that the government has acquired. Undoubtedly, there is a need for the government to formalize a system to legally recognize transactions on native land under the Land Code to guarantee that it will be able to command better market value.
The government is not the only one body that needs land for development or for other economic purposes. Today, the private sector is bigger than the government and it too needs land for development. Hence land could be treated as a living organism that grows. Land will grow in prices as development makes the country prosperous. That can only happen if Lands are made as assets, factors of production and recognized as transact able assets and be valued according to the market pricing system.
Understandably, if NCR lands are to be acquired, the same procedure under the Land Acquisition Act has to be used. For the first notice, Section 47 has to be enforced. The parties concerned if they disagree can go to court to seek legal redress. If the court decides on the higher quantum of payment for their lands the Government has to comply with the decision. The NCR land must become part and parcel of the evolution of land as a modern asset as the law must operate justly for all people – be they Bumiputera or non-Bumiputera. This will insure that the development of the country will bring benefits to all.
benuasains
*picture sources: http://benuasains.blogspot.com/2010/08/sarawak-to-remain-green-for-future.html
http://www.nadai.name/2009/03/no-mee-segera-recipe.html
http://www.did.sarawak.gov.my/paptweb/papt_web.htm
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