NCR Land:The AG Is Right, Stupid!

Hantu Laut

A Sabahan, a federal minister, either he does not know the law, pretended not to know the law, or intentionally telling a lie to his people.Politicians playing to the gallery are nothing new, tools of the trade.

Quote:

"The natives have been here well before laws were made… It’s only when the British came here were laws made, but tribal communities have thrived pre-independence, pre-colonial days, they have thrived and developed the system of culture themselves, the Penampang member of parliament said.

“So this includes ownership of properties, of land, they developed it and for you to say there has to be a cut-off point for this is not correct because all the native laws and customs pre-date laws made by legislature,” Dompok told reporters after witnessing the presentation of printed KadazanDusun language calendars to SK Putaton here yesterday and when asked to comment on Roderic’s statement which many Sabahan leaders disagreed with the state AG." ...Unquote

Read more here.

Obviously, this leader of the Kadazan people want this state to live by the law of the jungle and trying to usurp the law of the land.Natives customary rights (NCR) are well covered in the Sabah Land Ordinance which the Honourable Minister did not bother to familiarise himself with before he concludes that the State AG was wrong.

The AG was right that after 1930 no state land can be considered as NCR land unless the complainant comply with the requirements under the Sabah Land Ordinance of which the relevant sections are shown below:

13. Enquiry as to native rights.
-------------------------------

Upon the receipt of any application for unalienated country land it shall be the duty of
the Collector to publish a notice calling upon any claimant to native customary rights in
such land who is not yet in possession of a registered documentary title to make or send
in a statement of his claim within a date to be specified in the notice. If no claim is
made the land shall be dealt with as if no such rights existed.

14. Collector to decide claims.
------------------------------

Claims to native customary rights shall be taken down in writing by the headman or by
the Collector, and shall be decided by the Collector.

15. Definition of customary rights.
------------------------------------

Native customary rights shall be held to be -
(a) land possessed by customary tenure;
(b) land planted with fruit trees, when the number of fruit trees amounts to fifty and
upwards to each hectare;
(c) isolated fruit trees, and sago, rotan, or other plants of economic value, that the
claimant can prove to the satisfaction of the Collector were planted or upkept and regularly
enjoyed by him as his personal property;
(d) grazing land that the claimant agrees to keep stocked with a sufficient number of
cattle or horses to keep down the undergrowth;
(e) land that has been cultivated or built on within three years;
(f) burial grounds or shrines;
(g) usual rights of way for men or animals from rivers, roads, or houses to any or all of
the above.

16. Procedure when rights established.
-----------------------------------------

(1) Native customary rights established under section 15 shall be dealt with either by
money compensation or by a grant of the land to the claimant and in the latter case a title
shall be issued under Part IV
(2) Where the Collector decides that native customary rights established under section 15
shall be dealt with by money compensation, the affected land together with all buildings,
erection and crops thereon shall vest in the Government free from all encumbrances and shall be deemed to have been surrendered by the lawful claimant thereof upon such decision
being made.

Every country must have established laws that organise, regulate and bring order to society. No modern nation can live on archaic laws.If one is to go by Bernard Dompok's argument that these archaic and unwritten native law must be preserved than he should also consider bringing back head-hunting to Sabah and Sarawak, a tradition that these groups of natives used to practised in the past.

Here, another ignorant journalist, if you can call this type of writing journalism, or just another highly embellished political tub-thumping to hoodwink the people, typical of many Malaysian so-called journalists, never do research or check the facts before embarking on their journey of political brickbats, serving their paymasters blindly.They should just called themselves reporters who report verbatim.

It reminds me of the reporter who think ultra vires as something insulting the dignity of the sultan that got Karpal Singh into trouble.The writer also tried to impress his readers that he is a man of letters as to quote something completely irrelevant to the subject matter as William the Conqueror proclaiming all of England as crown land, lest he forgets that Sabah and Sarawak were also known as crown land under British colonial rules.

His glossing over Article 153 of the Federal Constitution is completely irrelevant and has nothing to do with the land laws of Sabah and Sarawak which is different from the Land Laws of Peninsula Malaysia.

Sabah and Sarawak have their own Land Ordinance which supersede any Federal Land Ordinance.Lands are state controlled and Article 153 has no jurisdiction over land matters in both states.Article 153 is more on education,civil service, businesses, etc, encompassing the NEP (affirmative action for the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak)

NCR laws are not carved in stone as asserted by the minister to be in perpetuity from time immemorial.

Compliance of the law is the rule of the game and paramount to establishing whether the claimants have customary right over the land.There is no such nonsense as blanket cover of customary rights over lands in both Sabah and Sarawak as what the minister is trying to impress his supporters.

Was I Wrong About This Man?

Hantu Laut

"Dompok is drumming up supports for himself and his party and may leave the BN just before the next GE because he thinks the BN will lose the next general elections.He is keeping his option open.On the same wagon is LDP, walking the political tightrope." Read in full what I wrote here.

Read this than read the one below.

Kota Kinabalu: Upko President Tan Sri Bernard Dompok preferred not to be drawn into the controversy surrounding the remarks by Liberal Democratic Party Deputy President Datuk Chin Su Phin that LDP could no longer work with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

"I wouldn't want to assess that (statement) É (it is) not proper for a (BN) component party to pass judgement on the action of another component party.

"That will not help the Barisan Nasional," the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister told reporters after presenting 2,000 Bible Knowledge textbooks to 31 schools at a hotel, here, Saturday.

However, he noted there has to be space for some criticism.

"There has to be a leeway and there are times that we have to agree to disagree on some issues É this is our position," Dompok said.

Chin said in a statement following the second Sabah BN meeting that the LDP would, nevertheless, remain loyal to the BN national leadership and continue to work with Umno.

On the Sabah BN meeting, he said many issues from illegal immigrants to land and even the way relationships between BN component parties in the State and divisions should go about were discussed.

"I suggested that if you wanted to be better able to go further into these issues, the (Sabah) BN should set up committees to look into all the individual issues É it would be more meaningful.

"This is what the BN is going to do and I think that saved the BN a longer meeting," Dompok said.

Through these committees, the ruling coalition could examine the issues in-depth and come up with better solutions, he said, adding it would start at the State level before being extended to the respective divisions.

"The committees can go further into the issues and (then) present it in the BN meeting É I think that's the way it should be."

Meanwhile, the Bible Knowledge textbooks are part of efforts to encourage students to take up the subject in their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.

Dompok, who handed over the books to representatives from the schools, said the party hoped to help and spur students to take up the subject through such programmes.

"This is a continuation of what we had done. We want to see the problems of how teaching Bible Knowledge and enrolling for this subject can be minimised," he said, after the ceremony which was followed by a training programme for Bible Knowledge teachers.

Dompok said the number of students taking up Bible Knowledge as an elective subject in schools throughout Sabah, let alone nationwide, were too few and that Upko hoped to change this.

"A lot of Mission schools are offering this subject (but only) small numbers of students (are taking it). We're helping those in Sabah who are taking up the subject to be prepared," Dompok said.

He said among the reasons why the subject was unpopular was because the schools might have thought it could bring down the overall passing grades in the respective institutions.

"I don't think this should be a worry. The study of Bible Knowledge, it's actually killing two birds with one stone É you master Bible Knowledge and also master English," he said, pointing out the subject was taught in the language.

"My party is interested in hearing about education in Malaysia É we shouldn't shy from this subject."

Dompok understood there was a big challenge for schools to hire the right type of educators for this subject since it is not part of the daily lessons.

But this should not be a stumbling block with the Government's decision to allow 12 SPM subjects, including two elective subjects, as opposed to 10 previously.

According to him, Bible Knowledge promoted universal values and was also an ingredient for success.

He was happy to note that interest in the subject was growing, as evidenced by the attendance during the Bible Knowledge training programme at the hotel, and hoped future programmes would encourage the schools, students and parents to embrace the subject.

The 2,000 textbooks comprised 1,000 "The Gospel according to Luke" books with the rest being the "Acts of the Apostles".

There are about 200 Mission schools nationwide while there are 250 examination centres where students could sit for Bible Knowledge papers.

Out of the 250, 28 centres are located throughout Sabah.

The Three Monkeys:Will BN Lose Again ?

Hantu Laut

In my previous two articles I mentioned that Joseph Kurup of PBRS/BN lost his uncontested MP seat of Pensiangan, nullified by the court in an election petition brought against him and that the BN would lose the seat if he is fielded again.

The election petition was brought against him by PKR's candidate Danny Anthony Andipai .It was found that the returning officer had acted unfairly towards Kurup's opponent by rejecting his papers when Kurup objected during objection time, quoting late submission of the papers as the reason for rejection.The judge ruled that the rejection was wrong and nullified the Pensiangan parliamentary seat.

Kurup was the Assemblyman for Sook from 1985 to 2008 except for the period 1999 to 2004 and had been Minister,Finance Minister and Deputy Chief Minister under both the PBS government and later under his own party PBRS/a component of the BN.

The Pensiangan parliamentary seat was previously held by Bernard Maraat also of PBRS who won the seat on a thin majority of 608 against Matin Tomy, an independent candidate.In the March 2008 General Elections, in fear of losing the seat and thinking it would be safer to move to other constituency Kurup abandoned his state seat of Sook and moved to Pensiangan.He booted out his colleague the incumbent Bernard Maraat and as President of the party refused to let him contest the seat.He took it for himself.

Kurup together with Bernard Dompok and Yong Teck Lee abandoned PBS soon after the 1994 state elections to form their own respective party and joined the BN to topple the PBS government.The plot was engineered by Anwar Ibrahim and assisted by the trio.

Yong had shown his true colour and had left the BN using the weak leadership of Badawi as the excuse and his love for Sabah as the reason.He misread the situation, thinking Anwar would be successful in taking over the government then.Dompok is rumbling all the times about how much he loves Sabah and wanted the best for Sabahans and objected to Petronas gas terminal and Pak Lah lack of concern for Sabah.He was given the reclamation work for the project.See, sometimes, threat does pay off. Kurup would surely abandon the BN if he is not chosen to stand in Pensiangan and good chance BN will succumb to his threat and let him contest Pensiangan.

One must admire this minute platform shoe-man, he has managed to stay in politics all this while.Pensiangan could be his death throes.

Following my comment of no place for Kurup in Pensiangan in the by-election, others have came out to express similar apprehension.Joseph Pairin has his doubt about Kurup here.Today, PBS Secretary-General Radin Malleh cautioned Kurup against his overconfidence of winning Pensiangan.He requests Kurup to do some soul searching here.

With Kurup the BN would surely lose.With a more acceptable candidate the BN would have a better chance of a close fight.

Everything Alright Now ?

Hantu Laut

The Prime Minister managed to pacify Bernard Dompok by promising to set up a petrochemical industry in Sabah. Whether this promise will materialise is hard to say. Are there other considerations that we are not privy to? Pak Lah is leaving office soon and good luck to Dompok if he thinks that's going to happen.

Pak Lah has less than 5 months in office and the project has a gestation period of 5 years.Will Najib makes good Pak Lah's promise or would it end up the same as way as Pak Lah's promise to Mahathir to continue his legacy but didn't ?

You can read the story here

Bernard Giluk Dompok: 'A Dog In The Manger'

Hantu Laut

Never trust a politician to tell the truth.If they are in the government and make noises on certain issues most of the time it is for their own selfish interest not for the rakyat (the people).

Bernard Giluk Dompok, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and President of UPKO has been yelling at the Sabah state government,Federal government and Petronas to scrap the gas pipeline from Kimanis in Sabah to Bintulu in Sarawak.

Petronas had explained that it is not economical to set up another LNG plant in Sabah due to reason of economy of scale where it is cheaper to pipe the gas to Bintulu.To set up a plant in Sabah would involve much bigger investment.

Bintulu is the single largest gas export terminal in the world where the gas are exported from one of the largest LNG plant in the world.It makes economic sense to pipe the gas to Bintulu.

The right thing for Bernard Giluk Dompok to do is to find out whether Sabah state is getting royalties from the sale of the gas and stop barking up the wrong tree to try rile up the people of Sabah to go against the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of Sabah for something he was rumored to have tried to get for himself and his macais but was unsuccessful.The other story going round was that he was not happy with the PM for his appointment as Minister in the PM's Department which he thinks is below his level.It goes to show what kind of person he is.If you think the position is demeaning to you than why accept it in the first place.Anifah Aman and Ghaffur Salleh took the bold decisions not to accept.

This man had been critical of the PM since the days of Anwar's rhetoric of taking over the government and have shamelessly continue doing so ever since although he is a member of the Federal Cabinet.He is playing the same game as Yong Teck Lee.Keep one foot in the BN's ship and one foot hanging outside and in the event Anwar took over the government can jump ship and join Anwar.They think it's smart but they forgot there are people watching them and can read them through and through.It's disgustingly low level politicking.The right word would be 'politik kampong'.

Yong eventually took the right decision to take his party SAPP out of the BN and now have a rightful place in the opposition and have the right to criticise the government.

It is also not for Dompok to tell Petronas how to run its business.If Petronas is guided by politics more than by commercial consideration why did it put up the biggest LNG plant in Bintulu and not in Labuan or in Trengganu.They can run the pipe line to Labuan or Trengganu.They didn't because the cost would be exorbitant.

Bernard Giluk Dompok is playing a dangerous game of trying to rile up Sabahan to go against the Federal government because of his disillusionment with the PM and probably the Chief Minister of Sabah but still wants to wear the BN's hat.He also politicised the issue to gain political mileage in KDM(KadazanDusunMurut) areas and look forward to rejection of BN supports at the next elections.His party would than align with the oppositions.

Instead of his useless rhetoric on the gas pipeline he should have put all his effort to move the Federal government to take immediate action on the medical crisis in the state which is at a very critical level.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital buildings have been found structurally unsafe and patients have been evacuated from the hospital and sent to smaller and poorly equipped hospitals in smaller towns causing great inconvenience to patients and their families.Which one he thinks is more urgent the gas pipeline or the medical crisis or is he a politician especially designated to look after the gas pipeline by his people?

This is typical of some of Sabah politicians, if you can't get what you wanted, point the gun, rile up the people and if the leadership give in and give you what you wanted than everything hunky dory.

If he is a gentleman and truly cares for Sabahan and is against the government policies than I would urge him in all sincerity to hand in his resignation as a Minister immediately.

If you don't than you are nothing but 'a dog in the manger'

Also read:
Dompok says not in the mood of giving up