Committee going full throttle in resolving land claims
BELURAN: The Kampung Ranpek Sungai Muanad Native Customary Right Land Claim Action Commi ee is going full thro le in resolving the pending land claims a er the pandemic.
Its advisor, Datuk Tan Yong Gee, said the commi ee was formed in 2018 to expedite the surveying and other processes but was hampered by the Covid19 pandemic.
“However, we managed to se le more than half of the cases. When we started the commi ee in 2018, there were 150 participants involved who had not received their titles. By now 80 of them have received their titles while 70 are still pending.
“This is due to the pandemic where we were unable to conduct transactions and Land and Surveys Department personnel were unable to perform their tasks,” he said when met at the commi ee’s second meeting with participants at the Kampung Ranpek community hall recently.
According to Tan, the former Labuk assemblyman who served between 1985 and 1999, the original claim started in 1985 when the 4,400-acre land was given to two peninsula-based companies by the former state government. By that time, he said that villagers had occupied and opened the land for agriculture.
He said that following negotiations with the then new state cabinet at that time and tussles between the state and the federal governments, the state government agreed to grant the land to the villagers.
“Two thousand and five hundred acres were put under the smallholder scheme involving 173 lots which have been se led during my tenure as assemblyman, while the rest fell under the NCR claim that are still pending until now.
“A er leaving the office, the participants tried to get assistance from my successor but apparently it was not in his agenda. So a er nearly 20 years, I decided to form this commi ee to help the participants who are now senior citizens.
“They are really hoping to obtain the titles before they leave the world, and I am compelled to finish off what I have started,” he said, adding that he and his commi ee members are in constant communication with the relevant authorities including the local Land and Survey officers.
Thanking the Land and Survey Department director and officers for their cooperation, he said that the process was delayed due to the Movement Control Orders (MCO) throughout the pandemic.
“Now that we have moved on to endemic, there is no more excuse to delay the process, be it on our side or the government’s side, so we will go full thro le. It has been too long, almost 25 years,” he added.
Among those present at the meeting were commi ee chairman who is also the village head, Jasmin Badin, and the commi ee secretary, Johndery Anggalong.