Stop more deaths due to NCR land disputes in Sarawak

KUCHING: There should be no more deaths resulting from Native Customary Right (NCR) land disputes.
Ba Kelalan state assemblyman Baru Bian (pix) said today the state government must respect courts ruling that the Iban's "pemakai menoa" (territorial domain) and "pulau galau" (forest reserve) are part of the NCR.
Debating on Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem's 2017 Sarawak Budget speech at the state Legislative Assembly sitting here today, he said the Sarawak Land Code should reflect this.
Baru, who is also state PKR chairman, said there had been two deaths so far including that of NCR activist Bill Kayong in Miri on June 21, this year.
He also urged the government to review its policies and practice of issuing timber licences and provisional leases over NCR land.
On another issue, Baru reiterated his call for a Land Rights Commission or a Land Tribunal to be set up as suggested by Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum in January this year.
"Having been given a strong mandate by the people, I hope the Chief Minister (Tan Sri Adenan Satem) and his cabinet will see it fit to give the native landowners this avenue for registering their claims and swift resolution of thir disputes.
"I also welcome the recent call by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah that the government should suspend the licences of plantation companies that employ gangsters in NCR disputes," he said. — Bernama