Musa welcomes independent study on NCR

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman says there must be communal titles for land as there is not enough land for individual owners.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, in a quick response to the Sarawak State Legislative assembly ammending the Land Custody Development Authority Bill which involves Native Customary Land Rights(NCR), has welcomed Suhakam to look into NCR in his state.

He said Suhakam, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission, can undertake a study on issues related to Native Customary Land Rights

He said Suhakam would be able to provide a different but no less important perspective on the matter and the state government would like to hear the feedback from the findings of this study.

“I wish to stress here that the government has always put the interest of the people as its priority when introducing any concept, ” he said in a statement today.

He said the state government was opened to genuine feedback, constructive criticisms and ideas that would enable the people especially in the interior to communally own land and develop a sustainable livelihood.

Musa who is also state finance minister said he has explained a number of times the reason behind the introduction of the Communal Titles.

The main reason for the need of Communal Titles is because land cannot be given individually as there is not enough land in the state.

He said the government needed to protect the welfare of future generations and the concept of giving out communal land titles helped to moderate the selling of native lands while safeguarding the inheritance of future generations.

“We do not want a situation where our children end up being landless in their own state,” he said.

“If Suhakam claims that village heads and JKKKs chiefs questions were left unanswered and could therefore not impart the correct information to the people, it does not mean the initiative is bad or will not succeed in its objectives.

“It just means most new initiatives will have hiccups in the beginning but with time and fine tuning, they will achieve their intended objective,” he said.

The report may help the government establish a more systematic approach in establishing the legitimacy of NCR land and the process of giving land to the landless.

Musa said the objective of Suhakam’s efforts on the issue of communal land titles and NCR should complement the government’s effort to help the people improve their quality of life.

“We would also like to stress that land issues should not be confined to NCR claims only but to all Sabahans so that no one will be left out.

“After all, the ultimate objective of granting land is to ensure that we look after the interest of the people in the state so that no Sabahan is left out of the development process.”