KUCHING: The Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) is experiencing a surge of applications for its land documentation initiative as the deadline looms.
Its president Datuk Ik Pahon Joyik said after four years, the initiative that facilitated land title processing and native customary land (NCR), has finally been acknowledged as a success but would end by 2013.
“After four years, only now do all the Bidayuh villages demand to be included, asking DBNA to train their representatives on land documentation.
“I just received 300 new applications from villages where we have already done the documentation. These are from those who did not want to participate in the initiative earlier,” he told reporters when met at DBNA premises yesterday.
He said the task was not an easy one and so far, the initiative has taken flight in 40 of the targeted 338 Bidayuh villages.
He said the initiative under the guidance of Infrastructure Development and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Michael Manyin was carried out to speed up survey works instead of waiting for the Government to do the job.
“Some people asked us why they should pay when they can get it free through the Government, but they don’t realise that they would need to wait for it because Sarawak is a vast state.
“What we are doing is taking the initiative. I personally don’t like the ‘everything free’ mentality, so if we can take our own initiative, why not?” he said.
Ik Pahon said the efforts started in Kampung Skuduk, of which villagers there had already been granted their land titles.
He said the initiative worked in such a way that each village would send three representatives for training at DBNA; one to do the global positioning system (GPS) reading, another to do the pegging and the other to document the readings in the field book.
(Source: The Star, 25 Mac 2012)
