Salcra leads natives into bankruptcy

Owners of native customary rights (NCR) land who joined the Sarawak's Felda-styled schemes are crying foul.

KUCHING: Native landowners in Bau district who joined the government-linked Sarawak Land Custody and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) scheme hoping for financial success may now have to declare themselves bankrupt.

According to Sarawak PKR, the poorly managed Salcra schemes have not only deprived the landowners of an income but has plunged them further into debts.

State PKR official Boniface Willy Anak Tumek said: “Instead of receiving a reasonable amount of dividends, the Salcra scheme participants in the Jagoi estate in Bau collectively owe the authority at least RM5 million.

“The unpaid loan referred to is the balance of the loan given to Salcra by the government to enable them to pay off development expenses.

“And Salcra is charging the participants.”

Willy said several angry participants of the scheme had approached him last week seeking assistance to publicise the issue in the media.

Some 934 Bidayuh landowners from six villages are involved in the 2,923 hectare Jagoi estate which was planted about 20 years ago.

‘RM15 per month per acre’

Willy said that when the scheme participants asked Salcra as to why the dividend paid was so small and they were told that the partiticipants collectively owed Salcra about RM5 million.

“That works out to be an average of RM693 per acre in unpaid loans at least.

“And the total dividend paid to the scheme participants for the entire estate is RM18.5 million, giving an average of RM2,562 per acre per year.

“That works out to be an average RM15 per month per acre,” he said.

He said the dividends distributed to the participants is nett after payment of the loan to Salcra by the government.

“If the trend continues, some of the scheme participants may go bankrupt four or five years from now.

“That is the time when the agreement with Salcra will expire.

“This is a sad story contrary to the people’s expectation,” Willy said.

Cheated by scheme

A spokesman for Kampung Serasot Boreng Gosaw said the Jagoi estate scheme management had not delivered the monetary benefits that was promised.

“The oil palm trees are now about 20 years old which is past their prime mostly,” he said, wondering whether other Salcra estates elsewhere are also suffering.

Boreng also cited Land Development Minister James Masing’s pledge to look closely at alternative models for the development of native customary rights land development.

“Is Masing now indirectly implying that the Salcra-type of land development applied thus far has failed to fully achieve its objectives – that of making lives better for the land owners?

“If so we the scheme participants now want Michael Manyin, the state minister of infrastructure development and communications and a board member of Salcra and our elected representatives the MP for Mas Gading Dr Tiki Lafe, and the Tasik Biru assemblyman Peter Nansian to ensure that the documents of titles to our land are issued by the year’s end.

“We have heard rumours that survey works for some plots of land inside the estate have not been carried yet and that is making us even more worried.

“There is only five years or so left before the 25-year agreement with Salcra for the use of our land expires,” Boreng said.

‘Give us our titles’

He said during the April 16 state election participants were promised their land titles if they voted in Nansian. Nansian won with a thumping majority but BN has done nothing since.

“Now it is seven months after the election, Nansian and the BN state government have not delivered their promise,” Boreng added.

Meanwhile another village Kampung Skibang spokesman known only as Jonday said the poor dividends had pushed them into the ‘hardcore poor’ category.

“We have nothing to look forward to now except for the titles to our land.

“The dividend paid to us puts us on the income threshold for the hardcore poor.

“The title is is very important to us because now we cannot tell where and how big our individual land is as all our private and traditional boundary markers are now gone and the entire land is covered with oil palm,” he said.

Salcra’s chairman is Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu Anak Numpang, who is also state agriculture and rural development minister.