Adenan: Land tenure remains at 99 years
BINTANGOR: After announcing the abolishment of quit rent for land below 100 acres recently, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem yesterday brought another piece of good news to landowners.
Speaking at a `Leader With the People’ gathering at the Basketball Stadium here, Adenan announced that the tenure period for land would be retained at 99 years.
If the original tenure period of the land was 99 years, the tenure period for all lots divided from it would remain 99 years instead of 66 years as decided earlier, he said.
He also said the decision was made based on the request from landowners, which he felt was reasonable.
It was for that reason that he was very serious in demanding for the return of the state’s autonomy from the federal government, he explained.
“Devolution of power would be pursued accordingly till we get the desired outcome,” he said, adding the process would take time as it has to follow administrative and legal procedures.
He said when he talked about fighting for Sarawak’s rights, he meant business, stressing it was for that reason that he deserved to be called the Chief Minister of Sarawak.
Even with the limited power he had, he said the state government had no problem in recognising Unified Examination Certificate ( UEC) and students with such qualification could apply for jobs in the civil service or apply for education loan from Sarawak Foundation.
He also talked about demand for a fair share of development
Devolution of power would be pursued accordingly till we get the desired outcome. Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem, Chief Minister
fund from the federal government because he felt that Sarawak being part of the federation and almost the same size as Peninsular Malaysia required huge funds to catch up with the pace of development in the Peninsula.
“As we are still lagging far behind in every aspect of development, we need big funds to catch up, be it in terms of road connectivity and other basic infrastructure and facilities,” he said.
Touching on the negotiation to increase oil royalty with the federal government, Adenan assured it would be pursued till the demand was met.
He said that the negotiation had been slowed down for the time being due to the slump in oil price in the world market.
“The state government will definitely resume negotiation once the oil price recovers. At the moment, the situation is just not appropriate as there is not much income derived from oil and gas,” he said.
“The oil and gas in Bintulu, Miri and other parts of Sarawak are ours and do not belong to Kedah, Pahang or any other states as they were not found in their land; hence we have the right to make reasonable demand,” Adenan stressed.
Despite the slow progress in the negotiation, he had already achieved something such as the agreement to give more Petronas contracts to Sarawakians as well an increase in allocation of Petronas corporate social responsibility fund to the state.