BINTANGOR: A total of 70 village chiefs from Tulai, Meradong received official Native Customary Rights (NCR) land titles under Section 6 of the Sarawak Land Code in a handover ceremony at the Bintangor Community Hall on Friday.

Sarawak Deputy Minister of Urban Planning, Land Administration and Environment and Kuala Rajang Assemblyman Datuk Len Talif Salleh said that the recognition and legal ownership of NCR land is among the main commitments of the Sarawak Government to protect the rights of the people, especially the Bumiputera community living in rural areas.

“The recognition and issuance of NCR land titles is a matter close to the hearts of the people.

“Therefore, the Sarawak Government has studied methods to expedite the NCR land surveying process so that landowners have land ownership documents, clear land boundaries and their land will not be encroached upon,” he said in his speech at the handover ceremony.

He explained that the NCR Land Survey Programme, which began in 2010, was implemented in two stages, the first stage involving perimeter measurement and gazetting as a Bumiputera Communal Reserve (Agriculture) under Section 6 of the Sarawak Land Code, and the second stage covering the measurement of individual lots and the issuance of land title deeds under Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code.

Datuk Len also explained that this programme was implemented free of charge and only based on valid applications from NCR land claimants.

He further said that any cases that are still in dispute or trial in court will not be measured unless they have been legally resolved.

He added that as of June 30, 2025, the Land Department and Survey (JTS) Sarawak has successfully measured the perimeter of 1,204,125 hectares (2.9 million acres) of NCR land throughout the state, with 937,655 hectares (2.3 million acres) of which have been gazetted.

Meanwhile, for the measurement of individual lots, he said, a total of 101,903 lots involving an area of 121,733 hectares (300,802 acres) have been measured, and 32,614 lots have been issued official title deeds under Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code involving an area of 44,828 hectares (110,770 acres).

In the meantime, he called for full cooperation from community leaders, tribe leaders and NCR land claimants to ensure that this programme can be implemented more smoothly and efficiently.

He also reminded that land that has been recognised should not be sold for short-term profit, but rather be fully utilised for agricultural purposes or family economic development.

According to him, various initiatives and assistance from the Government to develop NCR land have been introduced through the Ministry of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Sarawak (M-FICORD).

Also present were Meradong Assemblyman Datuk Ding Kuong Hiing, Sarikei Deputy Resident Badjuri Bidin, Meradong District Representative Officer Ting Kai Siang, Sarikei JTS Superintendent Awan Amal, and Meradong District Police Chief Tansli Mering.- UKASnews