THE Sarawak government has been told that giving the Sago and Nipah Development Board powers to make compulsory acquisition of native customary rights (NCR) land will open more avenues for exploitation of the natives.

Ba’kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian, voicing his reservation and objection to section 13 on the bill to set up the board in the state legislative assembly today, said having such a heavy-handed provision is unjust.

Section 13 provides for the compulsory acquisition of land for development by the board if the landowners refuse to give their consent in writing.

Upon compulsory acquisition of the land by the board, the native customary rights of the owners are then extinguished in accordance with section 5 of the Sarawak Land Code, and the purpose of the acquisition is deemed a “public purpose”.

Baru, a prominent native land rights activist and legal expert, said it has been found in many cases where section 5(3)(4) of the land code is being used to extinguish native customary right over native customary land for public purposes, the landowners are not consulted and given the opportunity to respond to such acquisitions.

“In most cases, the native landowners only found out long after the process of the acquisition had been gazette,” he told the assembly, adding that most of the time, only when the projects commenced on the ground.

Baru said in cases where the government bulldozed its way through and acquired the land compulsorily, the landowners will “lose his NCR land forever”.

“To the Sarawak natives, land is life. This is a huge loss not only to the present generation but also to the future generations because the generations to come have rights over such native customary lands as well,” he said.

“The rights to these NCR lands were acquired by their forefathers, whether through inheritance, clearance or occupation and utilisation.

“The rights to these lands are interconnected with their custom and culture, and to deprive them of their lands is to erode their custom and culture, slowly but surely.”

He said the exploitation of the natives would just continue as the majority of the native landowners are unaware of their rights and unable to fight for themselves.

The Sago and Nipah Development Board Bill was passed with no amendments. – February 16, 2022.