By Peter John Jaban , Sarawak Land Rights Activist
KOTA KINABALU, I fully support the statement made by Datuk Prof Dr Jayum Jawan, who rightly pointed out that Native Customary Rights (NCR) land disputes are being prolonged by bureaucratic red tape, causing immense suffering and injustice to the rightful landowners.
For decades, NCR landowners have been trapped in an endless cycle of paperwork, delayed verification, overlapping claims, and weak coordination between agencies. Many of them are elderly, waiting their entire lives for recognition and titles that never come.
Some even lose their ancestral land to encroachment and development while government files move at a snail’s pace.
This was despite the much touted effort by the State Government to revamp the Native Court system which I believe there had been a special committee appointed to handle the crucial issue to reshape the Native Court system to be on par with the civil court.
But todate no positive move has been seen to that effect. There is even shortage of Magistrate’s to handle all native & ncr cases in Sarawak as those former Magistrates over 70 years of age has been phased out.
Now only a handful of magistrates left. It is interesting to note that the Native Court system is directly under the purview of Premier office. The issue is was there enough funding to assist the Native Court system to be more effective not only to employ more magistrates but for other matters for the administration of justice.
Due to the acute lack of magistrates some cases in the Native courts have been delayed for proceeding and decision up to over 3 years or more. Some disgruntled litigants gave expressed lack of confidence in the Native Court system to serve their rights.
This bureaucratic delay is not just inefficiency it is denial of justice. When rightful owners cannot obtain land titles or defend their territory because of slow processes, the system itself becomes complicit in their loss.
As rightly put by the former PM of Great Britain the late Gladstone who said: “Justice delayed is justice delight.”
The Natives people have heard countless promises of land reform, surveys, and mapping exercises. Yet, every initiative gets stuck between departments, legal reviews, and approval chains that take years to resolve. This must end.
Therefore i urge the Sarawak Governments to take immediate steps to
1. Streamline the NCR land recognition process, cutting down unnecessary steps and overlapping jurisdictions between agencies
Set strict timelines for land verification, surveying, and gazettement.
Empower local land offices and community representatives to handle disputes quickly and transparently.
Establish an independent review mechanism to ensure that bureaucratic procedures never override the rights of indigenous landowners;
State Government should provide sufficient funding to fund the employment of more magistrates and equip Native Courts with an up to date equipments to upgrade the current situation.
I also hope that the state ministers concerned should look into this matter urgently and seriously to assist the state government and it’s agencies and to report on the development of the revamping of the natives court system to give confident to the NCR land owners and the public at large.
Under the Federal Constitution under Part II of the Nineth Schedule administration land in Sarawak is a State matter autonomously which is governed by the Sarawak Land Code (cap. 81). All govt departments and agencies related thereto must take proactive role on this to administer a fair and just administration of land in Sarawak including NCR matters. Expediency and cutting the red tapes should be the way.
Every delay in resolving an NCR case is another injustice to the indigenous people. Bureaucracy must never stand in the way of indigenous rights and ancestral heritage.
It is time for the government to act decisively cut through the red tape, return the land to its rightful owners, and restore trust among the indigenous community who have waited far too long for fairness.
