Datuk Gerawat Gala  KUCHING: The intent and effect of the amendment on the Sarawak Land Code as explained by the Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas is to give legal recognition to Pemakai Menoa and Pulau Galau (PMPG) or Native Territorial Domain (NTD) as termed in the amendment. Prior to the amendment, the Federal Court ruled that PMPG has no legal force and that the use and occupation of land as PMPG under Iban custom does not give the claimants any right to the land, said Mulu assemblyman Datuk Gerawat Gala, who is also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president. In other words, the Federal Court ruled that PMPG is not NCR land, he explained. Even the right to use the land as PMPG (otherwise known as usufructuary right) was not recognised ...

Majang advises students during SMK Subis Motivation and Inspiration Programme. Also present were SMK Subis’s senior assistant Reensia Gubai and the chairman of SMK Subis’s parent-teacher association (PTA) councillor Changgai Dali. MIRI: Students who did not excel in SPM and STPM examinations need not despair as the government provides alternative pathways. Samalaju assemblyman Majang Renggi made the remark while officiating at SMK Subis’s Motivation and Inspiration Programme at the school in Batu Niah recently. “Although you (students) did not do well in public examination and couldn’t get a place in institutions of higher learning, please don’t be sad. “The government provides various alternatives such as polytechnic, Mara Skills ...

Awang Tengah (fifth left, front row) and the dignitaries with recipients of the communal gazette, traditional village land title and perpetuity NCR land title at the presentation ceremony at the Miri Land and Survey Department conference room. MIRI: The Sarawak government has surveyed over 2.1 million acres (864,377 hectares) of land under the Native Customary Rights (NCR) new initiative programme as of July 31 this year and it is counting on federal funding to continue this on-going undertaking. Deputy Chief Minister and Second Minister of Urban Development and Natural Resources Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said Sarawak needed the funds to expedite the NCR recognition of the initiative undertaken since 2010 with federal funds allocated by the previous government. Under ...

Dr Abdul Rahman (second right) hands a  mock Sares key to one of the community leaders as Sikie (third right), Syed Fauzi (right) and others look on. TATAU: Almost 1,200 residents from 204 households in 10 longhouses in Tatau now have access to reliable and renewable 24-hour electricity supply under Sarawak Alternative Rural Electrification Scheme (Sares). The 10 longhouses are Rh Malo, Rh Sekaya, Rh Samun, Rh Kanyan, Rh Nyuan, Rh Lasok, Rh Billy, Rh Layang, Rh Sylvester Bunsu and Rh Sujan. Under the community-based Sares, the Ministry of Utilities, Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) and the ten remote communities worked together to build solar systems for their respective longhouses, chosen due to the challenge of connecting them to the grid. The Sares project for Tatau ...

Delegates and others at the launch of Ises 2018. — Photo by Tan Song Wei KUCHING: Sarawak targets to achieve 100 per cent electrification by 2025. Towards this end, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the Ministry of Utilities and Sarawak Energy are installing standalone alternative systems, utilising micro-hydro and solar technologies to light up communities living in the interior through the Sarawak Alternative Rural Electrification Scheme (Sares). “Alternative energy sources have indeed played an important role in the state’s mission for full electrification particularly for the communities that are impossible to connect to the state grid. “This is in line with our target to achieve 100 per cent electrification ...

CM: State govt determined to find best possible way to end the ambiguity on the two categories of land Abang Johari hitting a gong to start the conference. Looking on from left are Ganie, Morshidi, Awang Tengah, Uggah and Jaul. – Photo by Muhd Rais Sanusi KUCHING: The state government will find the best possible solution to end the issue over territorial domain (pemakai menoa – PM) and communal forest reserve (pulau galau – PG) faced by the Bumiputera community, said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg. In view of this, he stressed that there must be a clear and precise definition on the status of the two categories of land that is acceptable to all the ethnic groups. He assured that under his leadership, the state government has the ...

  Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg KOTA SAMARAHAN: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has assured Sarawakians that the state’s Light Rail Transit (LRT) project will not be as expensive as claimed by the opposition parties. Speaking at the launch of PBB Zone 2 meeting in Kota Samarahan Civic Centre here yesterday, he said it would not cost as much as the ones built at Peninsular Malaysia. He said there are many ways to construct the LRT infrastructure and the state need not follow the model used in Peninsular Malaysia. He also said the state government had done its research before announcing and making the decision to start the project. “Do they (the opposition parties) think that we (the state government) are stupid? ...

In In memoriam: Pehin Sri Datuk Patinggi Adenan Satem (Jan 27, 1944 – Jan 11, 2017). IT was a sad beginning to 2017 for Sarawak with the untimely passing of former chief minister Pehin Sri Datuk Patinggi Adenan Satem on Jan 11 — 10 days before his 73rd birthday. Adenan was appointed the fifth chief minister of Sarawak on Feb 28, 2014. His wife, Datuk Amar Jamilah Anu, related that a few days before his death, Adenan had said he loved Sarawak and wanted the people to love and care for the state as much as he had. Jamilah recalled her husband was cheerful in the last few hours before he breathed his last. “He decided to take a bath and put on new clothes before asking to be seated facing the view of the forests from his room. “He then ...

  Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas KUCHING: The government will never rob the people of their land as it is its duty to take care of the welfare of its citizens who have elected it. Thus, such question should not arise at all, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas pointed out. “That question should never be asked of us. This is because the state government is very serious in finding a holistic solution to the native customary rights (NCR) land issue regarding ‘pemakai menua’ and ‘pulau galau’ (PMPG),” Uggah told The Borneo Post in his office at the DUN complex yesterday. He assured that the state government would address the issue ...

Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas described the 2018 Budget as a ‘comprehensive’ budget in an attempt to address all the people’s needs. “Even babies not born yet will be taken care off. What more the needs of the people at large including farmers and fishermen. The overall budget is to alleviate and upgrade the livelihood of all strata of our society including the handicapped, small businessmen and entrepreneurs, civil servants and pensioners,” Uggah told The Borneo Post last night. As for his ministry, the allocation of RM6.5 billion for the agriculture sector would be utilised to upgrade and elevate the income of farmers and fishermen throughout the country. “Under ...