PENAMPANG, Feb 11 (Bernama): United Pasokmomogun
Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok has
contended that the natives of Sabah comprise many tribes which have developed a
system of culture amongst themselves.
This included ownership of properties or land, well before
the system of legislation came about during the British colonial era.
As such, he said, such culture should be respected, adding
that even the court of law had decided that native customary rights (NCR) could
not be extinguished by those intepreting it.
“I have to disagree with the views of the state
attorney-general that there is ‘no NCR land after 1930’. I think the natives
have been here, well before laws were made. It is only when the British came
here, that laws were made.
“If we look at the terminology of natives, a native means
someone who has been staying in a place from time immemorial.
“I think, to say that there has been a cut-off point is not
correct,” he told reporters after launching a calender in Kadazandusun language
at the SK Putaton near here today.
Dompok, who is plantation industries and commodities
minister, was asked to comment on state attorney-general (AG) Datuk Roderic
Fernandez’s statement yesterday, that no fresh NCR land could be created as
only land “still” occupied by natives prior to the date when the Sabah Land
Ordinance (SLO) came into force, was recognised with such status.
Fernandez was also quoted as saying, there was no provision
in the SLO for natives to go into occupation after 1930 and claim NCR on it,
and “a claimant for NCR today must show occupation of the land, prior to 1931”.
Asked whether Fernandez’s interpretation of the NCR
provision in the SLO represented the state government’s stand on the matter,
Dompok believed it was merely the former’s opinion.
“The state AG should have made this clear to the state
government, and I hope he has done that...otherwise, it will put the state
government in a bad light,” he said.
Dompok said this was because the extinction of the NCR might
cause unhappiness to a large section of the community, particularly the natives
of Sabah. - Bernama
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