Have faith in the special taskforce on NCR land — Manyin

SERIAN: The Dayak community has been urged to have trust in the Native Customary Rights (NCR) land special taskforce headed by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah to resolve the issues surrounding NCR lands.

Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin, who said this, also stated his belief that more NCR lands will be issued with titles within the next three years.

With the land titles, he said the land would have more value and the landowners could also use the document for transactions such as applying for bank loans.

“The land is valuable to the Dayaks - be they Iban, Bidayuh or Orang Ulu, but without any title, the land is not a property. The title will also ensure ownership to the land.

“That’s why we are doing our very best to get more NCR lands issued with title in the next two to three years,” he said when speaking at a function in Kampung Bantang, near here on Saturday night.

Speaking on behalf of the Bidayuhs, Manyin said they were also hopeful the taskforce would facilitate the issuance of land titles by Land and Survey Department for the land already documented by Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) under its land documentation project.

He was confident the taskforce, which has held several meetings since its formation early this year, are now addressing all the issues concerning NCR land and will come up with a solution soon.

On another matter, Manyin who is also Tebedu assemblyman expressed his concern over the seemingly slow progress of Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) projects in the constituency.

He called on the relevant authorities to act on this so that the projects are completed and benefit the constituents since the RTP projects were meant to narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas.

“Every year now, each constituency gets RM5 million for the RTP. But for Tebedu, I was told 30 percent only have been completed so far this year. Therefore, I urge the relevant authorities to work harder,” he said.

Manyin was in Bantang on Saturday to open projects funded under the RTP in that village.