Village folk request NCR land for them to plant cash crops
LUNDU: The villagers of Kampung Sebandi, Kampung Langeh and Kampung Selingok near here are requesting from the state government for a third of their 814.6hectare Native Customary Rights ( NCR) land to be returned to them, so that they can utilise it to plant cash crops.
According to Councillor Sharkawi Nawi, 62, the three villages – located about 15km from this town – have been cultivating their land since time immemorial. Nowadays, they are planting various crops including oil palm on these plots of land.
“All we are asking back from the government is the land, upon which we have been cultivating crops for as long as I can remember,” Sharkawi told The Borneo Post at the PBB operations room here yesterday.
He stressed that it was alright for the government to develop the remaining NCR land, which had not been cultivated.
“The government can proceed with its plan to develop the rest of our NCR land as we are not against development.
“However, we have been strong supporters of the government and as such, we hope that in return it (government) would consider our request,” he said.
Sharkawi also hoped that the state government would expedite providing electricity supply to 34 houses in these three villages, as they had been requesting for it since 2012.
“At the same time, we hope that the relevant authorities could provide us with the 1Malaysia water tanks as sometimes, we face water supply shortage due to the low pressure from the water mains,” added Sharkawi.
It is learned that Malays constitute the largest number of registered voters in Tanjong Datu – at 5,498 out of the total 9,957. The Ibans come next with 1,763 voters, the Chinese with 1,646 voters and the Bidayuh with 1,050 voters.