PKR Sarawak chief Baru Bian today slammed the state's Assistant Minister of Planning and Resource Management, Mohd Naroden Majais, for saying that natives can get their land surveyed only if they go through BN elected representatives.

"This is politicking. It is nonsense and very irresponsible of him to say that. If (the government) is really sincere about helping the natives, this will not be an issue," Baru said when contacted.

Naroden had said on Tuesday that the government could not act if requests for land surveys, for the purpose of native customary rights (NCR) claims, were made via opposition elected representatives

Baru Bian Sarawak PKR-leader at Bruno Manser commemoration Baru ( left ), who has spent many years defending native customary rights land as a lawyer, said the minister's statement showed how little he knew about the mechanics of NCR land.

"It is the government's duty to conduct land surveys under section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code," he said.

"If there is sufficient evidence of ownership, the government should issue the land titles, but it has been trotting out excuse after excuse."

The Sarawak government had previously claimed that the Land and Survey Department cannot undertake the survey work involved in the issue of land titles because of the lack of funds.

To address this, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced that RM20 million of the federal budget will be allocated for this purpose.

Shortchanging the natives

However, this announcement failed to impress Baru, whose experience in dealing with NCR issues led him to suggest that the move "is just rhetoric".

"I have the feeling that they don't want to conduct the surveys because they are afraid that the whole of Sarawak belongs to the natives," he said.

Even if surveys were conducted, said the Orang Ulu lawyer, the natives would likely be shortchanged.

NONE Surveys could only take into account the land which the longhouses sit, he said, and several cases in Sibu were testimony to this.

There was also the case of the natives forced to move out to make way for the Bakun hydroelectric dam.

"That land is not disputed. What is disputed is the land five to 10km from the longhouses, the farmland on which the natives survive on, but is likely to have been given away to someone else," he said.

At present, Sarawak natives are embroiled in multiple legal disputes over what they claim to be their NCR land.

This has, however, been challenged by private companies with provisional leases issued by the state government.

In some cases, the natives have been assaulted or charged with trespass when they tried to defend their land.