LAND BRANCH
Land and Survey Department
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CONTACT US :- Menara Pelita, Jln Tun Abd Rahman Ya'akub,
Petra Jaya, 93050 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
ADJUDICATION SECTION : Native Customary Land (NCL)
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This section aims to highlight the roles played by the Land and Survey Department under the new concept of Native Customary Land (NCL) development which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Land and Rural Development. Native Customary Land (NCL) Development is a new and bold strategy aimed at bringing about changes to the rural communities through large scale land development utilizing native customary rights land as an asset. Traditionally such land had been used only as a "Pusaka" .
"Pusaka" refers to the customary tenure in which land is held as an inheritance which can be passed from one generation to another. In this regard, native customary lands are developed into estate plantations through the managing Agents that is the Sarawak Land Development Board (SLDB) or Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA).
Why native customary Land (NCL) Development and not issue individual titles ?
Sarawak has a land area of 124,449.5 sq. Kilometers with sporadic areas under native customary rights. The distribution of native customary rights in the state is as shown below:-
|
Division |
Area under NCL (hectares) |
Area already adjudicated (hectares) |
Balance as at 30.6.94 (hectares) |
|
Kuching |
102,450 |
24,003 |
78,447 |
|
Sri Aman |
174,192 |
35,723 |
138,469 |
|
Sibu |
269,998 |
24,023 |
245,975 |
|
Miri |
201,063 |
19,703 |
18,136 |
|
Limbang |
55,161 |
17,745 |
37,416 |
|
Sarikei |
162,580 |
15,035 |
147,545 |
|
Kapit |
457,255 |
11,098 |
446,157 |
|
Samarahan |
124,000 |
16,291 |
107,709 |
|
Bintulu |
82,000 |
5,224 |
76,776 |
|
Total |
1,628,699 |
168,845 |
1,459,854 |
|
* Note : This represents 13% of the area of Sarawak. |
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The Land and Survey Department has a capacity to survey and adjudicate 10,000 hectares per year. Going at the present rate, it would take another 300 years to survey all native customary rights land in the State. Even if the number of staff is increased, it will take a very long time to survey, adjudicate and issue titles to all these native customary lands.
The native customary land areas are scattered and not easily accessible, and many are without survey infrastructure. Uncertainty over boundary between native customary land and State Land is also an issue. Experience has shown that some natives abandoned their “temuda” which was later occupied by different groups and caused disputes between communities and individuals.
In the course of Settlement Operation it was found that there were too many absentee claimants. Tracing them would be too time wasting. The vast idle native customary land needs to be brought into the mainstream of development and for this a paradigm shift is required. To survey, adjudicate and issue titles per se is only one aspect of the solution to issues on native customary land. Issuing titles will not add value to land without basic infrastructure.
Because native customary rights land is an economic asset, it has to be converted into an instrument for investment to generate optimum benefits. Towards this end, developing the vast tracks of idle native customary rights land for plantation under the one-title system is seen as an ideal approach.
Settlement Operation will still be carried out but only in areas where native customary land development is, nevertheless, not jeopardized.