Willie denies federal govt stopped special funds for NCR land perimeter survey

KUCHING: The federal government has never decided to discontinue providing special financial allocations for the perimeter survey of native customary rights ( NCR) land in Sarawak.

In fact, the federal government had actually allocated RM20.5 million for the purpose, Puncak Borneo member of Parliament Willie Mongin said.

He said the amount was disclosed by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department ( National Unity and Social Wellbeing) Dr Md Farid Rafik during the recently concluded parliament sitting.

“I agree there was no mention of specific allocation being set aside in Budget 2019 for land matters, but that does not mean that the Pakatan Harapan ( PH) government has decided to stop giving allocation for the NCR perimeter survey works in Sarawak.

“To say that there is no more allocation from the federal government to carry out the perimeter survey in Sarawak is totally inaccurate,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.

Willie was responding to the statement by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan last Friday that there was no allocation from the federal government for the purpose.

He noted that thus far the previous government had allocated RM154.5 million in federal funds for the Sarawak government to carry out the perimeter survey although the implementation was unclear.

“Yes, when the budget of PH government was tabled, it did not even touch on NCR land, but I would like to tell the people of Sarawak, especially the natives, that RM20.5 million has been allocated for the purpose next year.

“To me, by saying the federal government did not allocate any fund for the perimeter survey, the minister was trying to discredit PH,” he said.

Speaking at a ceremony to present land titles under Section 16 and 18 of the Sarawak Land Code at Kpg Pichin, Serian on December 14, Awang Tengah, who is also Minister of Urban Development and Natural Resources, said the sincerity of the state government to recognise NCR land was further proven when RM40 million was allocated in the State Budget 2019 by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, while there was no allocation from the federal government for the purpose.

Awang Tengah also claimed that he was surprised by the remarks made by some opposition leaders that carrying out land perimeter surveys was not important.

In the National 2019 Budget, the federal government allocated RM4.3 billion for Sarawak as development funds, an increase of RM10 million from the previous year, but no specific allocation was set aside for the various sectors.